Arkham
by Whackadoo
Summary: Dean and Sam stop in to check on Krissy, Aiden, and Josephine and get pulled into a case that could be their last.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I am currently writing another story entirely, but this one wormed it's way into my brain and wouldn't leave me alone until I had it out. My apologies to those who have been following along on my other story...I promise I'll get back to it now!**

"Case closed. That was a piece of cake. Hey, Sammy, Krissy and the kids are only about an hour away. You wanna drop in on them? See how they're doing?" Dean lowered himself in behind the wheel of the Impala and rifled through the cassette tapes.

"Check on Krissy? Yeah we could do that." Sam looked at his brother with suspicion.

Dean glanced over. "What?"

"That just doesn't sound like you is all." Sam said. "You tend to be more of the stay-out-of-their-lives type."

"Well, you know they're hunting. No way they could stay away." Dean started up the car, cranked up the tunes, and pulled out onto the road.

"Still..." Sam still doubted Dean's sincerity.

"Fine. Garth called. Said there was something hinky going on a couple towns over."

"Really? What's up?" Sam pulled out his laptop, ready to get right on it.

"He didn't say. Said he already had guys on it, but wondered if we could check on the kids since we were familiar faces and all."

"Okay. Sure. Sounds good." They drove in silence for a bit and then Dean chuckled. Sam looked over at him, waiting to be clued in. Dean chuckled again. "What? What's so funny?"

"I've got the perfect way to announce our arrival. We'll give them a little test."

"A test."

"Yeah! See how good they've gotten. We'll see if we can get the jump on them." As Dean said this they rolled past the two story house the kids lived in. He parked down the block a ways and laid out his plan to Sam. Sam went along with it. Mostly because that was easier than trying to talk Dean out of it.

They peeked in some downstairs windows and saw Krissy and Josephine sitting in the living room watching tv. Aiden was nowhere to be seen. The house was an old Victorian with a porch that wrapped around three quarters of it. Along the side of the house, Sam gave Dean a boost up to the roof over the porch and then made his way to the other side of the house. There, he rattled a window and then made his way to the back door. He gave the girls a second to respond to the window and then picked the lock and let himself in the back.

Upstairs, Dean had quietly let himself in an unlocked window. He quickly surveyed the upstairs and found no one. He pulled his gun and made his way downstairs as quietly as he could.

"You guys are too easy." Sam said, walking up behind the girls and pointing his gun at them. They turned and smiled sheepishly at Sam, but before they could say anything, Aiden slipped a knife to Sam's throat and asked him to drop the gun. Sam chuckled. "Nicely done. Where were you? We didn't see you."

"I was in the dark room. We made one in one of the closets."

There was a click and a gun was to the back of Aiden's head. "Drop the knife, Rambo." Dean said.

Before anyone could respond to that, there was a tap of the barrel of a sawed off shotgun on Dean's shoulder. "Who are these dumbasses?" Krissy and Josephine got smug looks on their faces. Everyone froze and time seemed to stand still.

Dean did a short spin move and in the blink of an eye had disarmed the unknown kid of his weapon and had it poking in his chest. "Who's the dumbass, dumbass?"

Krissy stepped in, raising her hands to their chests. "Okay. Okay. Will all alpha males please take a step back and relax? Dean, this is Garrett. Garrett, this is Dean Winchester and his brother Sam."

Garrett raised his hands in surrender and took a step back. "So these are the infamous Winchesters." He smiled and stuck his hand out. "Nice to meet you. Garrett Ramsey."

Dean hesitated, looking at Krissy. She smiled a smug little smile and he sighed. Instead of shaking his hand, Dean just handed Garrett's shotgun back to him. "Yeah, pleasure's all yours." Turning to Krissy, Dean put on his big brother face. "You were supposed to be being good, not go on a recruiting drive."

Sam sighed at his brother's lack of manners, offered a smile, and stepped forward to shake Garrett's hand. "I'm Sam and, yes, he's usually like this."

Everyone put their weapons away and had a seat in the living room. "So, Garrett, what brings you here?" Dean asked.

"Garth hooked him up with us." Krissy offered.

"Yeah. I had been hunting with my father and uncle while taking some online college courses, but I'm flying solo now."

"Really. Why's that?"

"Well, Uncle Ted died in a car wreck about a year ago and a vamp got my dad, oh, about seven months ago now. Garth hooked me up with these guys. Gave me a roof over my head in exchange for keeping an eye on them and helping out with any legal jams they might encounter, paying bills, etc."

"Sorry about your loss. How old are you if you don't mind my asking." Sam said.

"Twenty two and I'll have my business degree at the end of this semester."

"How are you guys doing with bills and food? You look like you're doing ok." Dean observed.

"We're actually doing alright." Josephine said. "I've starting taking a few online classes, myself. We all have part time jobs as well as our business. We've only had to run a few scams."

"Business? You guys run a business? What do you sell, tee shirts out of the basement?" The kids looked back and forth at each other, none readily giving up the info. "I'm not gonna like this am I?" Dean ran his hand down his face. "Well...someone lay it on me."

"Four Calling Birds Paranormal Investigation and Extermination." Aiden offered. Dean and Sam just sat there for a moment. They exchanged a look and Dean rubbed his face again with a sigh.

"You...you're public?" Sam asked shocked.

"Yup. We credit old man Tanner for our start." Aiden continued.

"Credit? Blame more like." Dean mumbled under his breath.

"We helped him out with a poltergeist and he just couldn't keep his mouth shut." Aiden explained.

"And since so many people had seen evidence of his poltergeist...it wasn't long before others were coming to us for help." Josephine finished.

"We needed some extra income and old man Tanner inadvertently gave us the means." Krissy said with a shrug of her shoulders. "We don't advertise and Garrett's age adds some credibility."

Dean couldn't believe his ears. "Let me get this straight. ... You are charging people to help them. To save them."

"We regularly take cases for Garth and anything we find on our own at no charge. The only time we charge is if they call the business number and ask for us." Krissy eyed Dean for a moment. "Don't you sit there and tell me you wouldn't do the same!"

"That's like a good Samaritan stopping to help you out with a flat tire and then turning around and asking you for fifty bucks!" Dean answered.

Krissy crossed her arms and made a face at him. They had a stare down for a moment when Sam finally broke it. "He's just upset he didn't think of it first."

"Damn straight!" Dean grinned.

"We're careful, though. We won't take any cases that involve killing. Such as vamps and the like. We don't need the cops bugging us." Garrett said. "We turn those ones down as soon as we realize what we're dealing with and then go back on our own time to clean it up."

Dean was nodding his head. "Smart."

The group fell into silence then. "So...you guys staying the night? We definitely have the space if you need a place to crash."

"That would be great." Sam answered before Dean could say no. He didn't want another night in a crappy motel if they could have real beds and showers here. He also knew Dean would just as soon drive through the night to the next job and he could use a good night's rest.

Dean gave him a sideways glance. "How much will it cost us?" He asked as he got up to dig out the car keys.

"Very funny. Let me go with you and help with your stuff." Krissy answered, standing herself. Garrett offered Sam a drink as Dean and Krissy headed outside.

They walked to the car in silence. As Dean rummaged through their stuff in the trunk he asked, "So, how are things really? You guys really doing ok?"

Krissy smiled. Dean never turned to see it, but she knew, underneath his gruff exterior, he really did care. "We're fine. Really. I've missed you guys too." She leaned over his bent form and gave him an awkward sideways hug.

He immediately stood up and held his hands out. "Whoa! What's with the chick flick crap?" He reached into the trunk grabbed a bag and shoved it at her, knocking her off balance. She smiled and took the bags he threw at her and they walked back to the house in companionable silence.

Krissy showed them some rooms they could use and where the bathroom was. Dean spent the remainder of the evening cleaning their weapons and talking weaponry with Aiden and Garrett. Sam did some laundry, spent some time on his laptop, and then turned in early.

The next morning Dean and Sam were greeted with a large pancake breakfast. They all sat around the table laughing as Aiden told a story about one of their more humorous cases. Dean's cell rang and he looked down at the display. "I should take this. Be right back. Save me some of that sausage!" Sam watched as Dean got up and went out to the next room. He smiled at the kids but was really listening in on Dean's end of the conversation.

"Aiden, did you see what Alex did yesterday?" Krissy asked.

_"Hey Garth, what's up?"_

"Yeah, you mean at lunchtime?"

_"Yeah, we're free. Whatcha got?"_

"God, it was hilarious! I can't believe he did that!"

_"Three missing hunters? Seriously?"_

"Wait what happened?" Josephine asked.

_"You think the hunters were being targeted or..?" _

"Alex stood up on a lunch room table, turned on some music and serenaded Jesse Turner. It was hysterical!"

_"Okay. Yeah, we're on our way."_

"Jesse? Cheerleader Jesse? What did Matt do?"

_"I think we can handle it, Garth."_

"Matt threw Alex over his shoulder and carried him out of the cafeteria. The whole place was a riot. So funny!"

_"Fine. Whatever. We'll keep in constant contact if it'll make you happy." _

Dean flipped his phone shut and came into the kitchen. Sam was already standing up. "Well. Hate to break up the party, but Garth wants us to look into something a few towns over. We gotta roll."

Sam hugged Krissy and thanked her for letting them stay. Josephine jumped in and hugged him in too. "Anytime." Krissy answered. "Next time, though, feel free to just ring the doorbell. Okay?" Sam chuckled.

Dean held out his hand to Garrett. "Thanks for doing what you're doing here, man."

Garrett shook his hand. "It's no problem. It's a two way thing. We're helping each other."

"Well don't you let anything happen to these kids or it'll be you I come looking for." Dean smiled while he said it but the look in his eyes was serious and Garrett caught the look. He swallowed nervously and nodded his head.

Dean turned to Aiden and held out his fist for a fist bump. "You keep up the training and look out for those girls as well."

Aiden looked at Dean's fist and smirked. "Seriously?"

Dean shook his fist a little. "Hey. You never leave a Winchester hanging..." Aiden rolled his eyes but bumped fists with Dean. "Ha! There you go! You guys ever need a hand give us a call. If we're able, we'll help you out." Garrett nodded his head in acceptance of the offer. Dean turned to Sam. "You ready to go, bro?"

"Let me go grab our stuff." Sam hustled upstairs.

Krissy came over and hugged Dean. "Thanks for stopping by."

Dean hesitated and then hugged her back. "Yeah well... we only stopped by because Garth's mother hen feathers were all ruffled. We'll let him know you guys are just fine." Dean stepped back. "Take care of yourselves and don't do anything stupid."

Before Krissy could answer, Sam came down the stairs with their bags. "Ready. Let's go." Sam smiled at Krissy. "Thanks again." And as quickly as they had blown into their lives, Sam and Dean were gone.


	2. Chapter 2

"So what does Garth need?" Sam asked. They were headed down the road, about ten minutes out from the kids' place.

Dean worked them through a left hand turn and then answered, "Remember how I said there was a case a couple towns over?"

"Yeah, but you said Garth had someone on it."

"Well, he did, but they're gone."

"Gone? Like, they split without finishing the job?" Sam was confused. He'd never heard of anyone bailing before a job was done.

"Gone as in they aren't picking up their phone and haven't returned any messages in the last four days."

"Who is it? Do we know them?"

"Tom McGovern. Dad worked with him a few times. I remember his name from his journal."

"Yeah. Doesn't sound like anything he would do."

"It gets worse." Dean continued. "Tom is the third hunter to vanish on this case."

"Really. What's the case?" Sam frowned, not liking the idea of one missing hunter, let alone three.

"Something to do with some asylum. Garth said he'd send an email with everything he's got."

"Asylum. Probably wraiths." Sam sighed.

"Yeah. Shit, man, I didn't like our last run in with those things. Creepy as fuck and they messed with your head. We'll need to be on our toes. Don't let anyone freaking touch you."

Sam mumbled a response and then sat in silence, lost in thought. After another couple turns, Dean was pulling into a small run down motel. Sam hopped out and went in to check them in. When he returned, Dean moved the car around to the back of the motel to their room.

"So, asked at the desk...both Tom and a Randy Smith have checked in and not checked out. Clerk thinks they've stiffed him on the rooms and asked me for payment up front for the first day." Sam said as they settled into their room. "I flashed a badge and got their room numbers if you want to check it out."

"Randy Smith. That must be Randall Mack. He was the second one to go. Yeah, let's go have a look at the rooms."

They headed out and down the row of rooms til they came to room 203. After a quick look around, they let themselves in. "This'll be Randall's room." Sam said. They wandered around the small room, opening drawers and closets. "I got nothing. You?"

"Nah, man. He must have kept his stuff in his car or whatever. Only thing I found was a pair of muddy shoes in the bathroom."

"Okay let's check out Tom's room. 211." Sam said and lead the way down the row of doors. Again, they took a quick look around and then let themselves in. Tom's room seemed a little more lived in. There were a couple bags on the table with clothes and toiletries in them, some empty food cartons on the counter, and a laptop tossed on one of the beds. Sam went to the laptop and opened it up. "Looks like Tom was thinking wraiths too. He has a page open on the web about them."

"I don't get it, then. If Tom came in after two had already gone missing and knew it was wraiths, how does he not get the kill?"

"Could it be something other than wraiths? Something we haven't seen yet?" Sam shut the laptop and put it back on the bed where it had been.

"Damn, I hope not. As much as I hate wraiths, I at least know what to do about them." Dean headed to the door and Sam followed. Back at the room, Dean started changing into his suit. "I'm going to go up to the asylum and ask a few prelim questions. See if I can get the lay of the land."

"Sounds good. I'm going to hang here and wait for Garth's email. See if we can learn anything more from it. Remember..."

"I know. No skin to skin contact with anyone. Got it. Back in a bit." Dean went out and hopped into the car. He drove about five miles out of town to the address he saw on a card in Tom's room. He knew he was close when he started noticing razor wire topped fencing running through the trees to his right. He came to a manned gate with the sign "Arkham - Residence For The Criminally Insane". Dean rolled his eyes. Were these guys for real?

He pulled up to the gate. "What's your business? You have an appointment?" The guard asked as he leaned over and took in the interior of the Impala.

Dean pulled out his FBI badge and held it up. "I don't need an appointment. I'm here investigating some missing persons reports. I need to speak to whomever is in charge." The guard took his badge, glanced at it and then handed it back.

"Knock yourself out." The guard stepped back into his booth, hit a button, and the gate opened.

Dean pocketed his badge and drove up the drive toward the main building. It was a sprawling complex, but most of the buildings looked to be unused. Only the main building showed any signs of life. He pulled into a spot and headed in, conscious of any physical contact.

When he walked in, the front room was set up as a waiting area with a few chairs scattered around and a low table with magazines on it. Across from him was a booth enclosed in plexiglass and beside it, a locked gate. He walked up to the booth and eyed the name tag on the woman within. "Hey Tracey. Special Agent Tyler. Any way I can get in to see the boss? I have a few questions regarding a few missing persons." He held up his badge to the glass.

Tracey looked up from her paperwork and smiled at him. "Well, Special Agent, I can buzz up to his office and see."

"Thank you." Dean threw one of his winning smiles at her and leaned against the counter, waiting. Tracey clicked a button on her phone. "So, you been working here long?"

She smiled again. "I've been here since we opened, about three years ago."

"How many people do you have on staff here?"

"Is this for your investigation or are you just curious?"

"Both." Just then her phoned buzzed. She held up her finger to Dean and picked up the phone.

"Yes sir. We have a Special Agent Tyler here from the FBI who would like to speak to you...yes. Okay. Will do." She hung up. "I'm sorry but Doctor Christidis has got to take a conference call from the county courthouse in about five minutes. He did say, however, that he could meet you tomorrow at one if you like."

Dean smiled again. "That would be great. Tell the good doctor I'll be here." Dean patted the counter with his hand and turned to walk out.

"Agent?" Tracey called after him. Dean turned with a question in his eyes. "Eleven, plus a medical doctor on call."

"What?" Dean was lost.

"You asked how many we had on staff here."

Dean nodded his head. "So I did. That's all?"

"We are a very small operation here, sir. We only take the worst cases. Currently, we have only five residents on site. There is the doctor, myself, four orderlies, the medical doctor, who's only here when called, and then the rest are janitorial and kitchen staff."

Dean pursed his lips a little. "Okay. Makes sense. Thank you." He smiled again and headed out and back to the motel.

"How'd it go?" Sam asked as Dean came in and plopped down onto one of the beds.

"Head guy was on a phone conference or something. I have a meeting with him tomorrow afternoon. You?"

"Yeah, well, I got Garth's email. There isn't much here. The case actually started as something pretty normal. The original hunter's name was Nigel Miller. He was looking into a regular missing persons case for a friend of his. From what I can tell, there was nothing supernatural about it. When he went missing, Garth looked into it for a mutual friend. Last known whereabouts was the asylum."

"Oh, Sammy. Get this! The asylum is called Arkham! Ha!" Sam just stared at his brother. "Arkham?" Dean couldn't believe this. "Seriously, Sam. You watch any tv? Ever? Movies? Read a comic once in a while?" Sam continued with the blank stare and Dean just sighed. "Never mind, man. You were saying?"

Sam shook his head and continued. "Anyway. Garth got a hold of Randall who said he'd be happy to look into it. Nothing supernatural was suspected as of yet, to Garth's knowledge. When he went missing as well, Garth started to suspect more than met the eye. He did some digging and called Tom, thinking it may have been wraiths."

"So Tom went into this knowing wraiths and still vanished. Either he was over powered or it's not wraiths. I just can't believe someone dad hunted with would get duped by anything. Dad didn't mess with anyone but the best when it came to having his back covered."

Sam nodded his head. "Doesn't seem to make any sense."

"There's not even that many people up there! Tracey, the girl at the front desk, told me there are only eleven people on staff. One of which is only there when called on. Any hunter worth his weight should be able to handle an operation like this."

"Well, he must have gotten touched inadvertently, or, like you said, he was over powered?" Sam was at a loss.

"Well let's call it a day. There's nothing more we can do until we can get in there tomorrow and talk to the good doctor, anyway." Sam nodded.

"You're wanting to get a bite to eat?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, but let's order in. They have magic fingers here." Dean answered.


	3. Chapter 3

"You gonna eat that?" Dean points at the last soft taco sitting on the table between them.

"No. You go ahead." Sam pushes it toward his brother in awe of his seemingly steel lined bottomless gut. "You better hurry, though, if you want to meet with that doctor on time."

"Wait. You're not coming too?" Dean raises his eyebrows in question but never takes his eyes off his taco.

"No. I think you can handle a little Q & A. I'm going to stay here and do some research." Sam started clearing away wrappers and garbage from their shared lunch.

Dean lifted his taco and drink out of the way. "What more research is there to do? Wraiths. They get stabbed with silver. Case closed."

Sam got his laptop out and set up. "I think this whole thing stinks. There are either multiple wraiths getting the jump on these hunters or it's something else. I'd like to look for the something else. Just in case."

Dean looked at his brother a moment. Sam needed the rest. The trials were taking their toll even though he was trying to hide it. "Yeah. Good idea. Never hurts to be prepared." Dean shoved the last of his taco in his mouth and headed over to change.

"Hey, before I go, call Garth." Dean said around his bite of taco.

"What for?"

"He seemed all paranoid about the missing hunters. Wanted us to check in on a regular basis. I guess that way he'd know if we went missing too. Not that we will."

Sam pulled out his cell and dialed Garth's number. "Hey Garth, Sam. Yeah we're here. Dean is about to head out and meet with the head doctor at the asylum. No, I'm staying here to research alternatives to wraiths. Yeah. Sure thing. Uh huh." Sam chuckled. "Bye Garth." He hung up and set his phone on the table in front of him. "He says to be extra careful and make sure we continue to stay in contact." Sam shook his head smiling.

"Yeah. Well, I'll call him later and tell him all about my tour of the nut house. Ok. I gotta get going if I'm going to meet that shrink by one. Later."

"Yeah. Call if you need anything." Sam called after him, but Dean was already out the door.

Dean went into the waiting room at the asylum and Tracey was there stacking the magazines on the table, watering the plants in the window and just generally being busy. "Hey Tracey, remember me?"

"I certainly do. Special Agent Tyler here for your one o'clock with Doctor Christidis." She smiled as she straightened a few of the chairs.

"Don't say it like that. You make it sound like I'm here for therapy."

"You're not?" She asked confused, but when she caught his eye, Dean knew she was messing with him.

"Funny."

"The Doctor is running a bit late but if you want to have a seat, I'll let you know when he's available."

"Yeah. Thanks." Dean looked around but didn't sit.

"You want a cup of coffee or anything while you wait?" Tracey asked.

"What? Oh, um, no. No thank you."

"So how long have you been with the FBI? Is it as exciting as it sounds?" Tracey sat herself down in one of the chairs and set her chin in her hand, eyes beaming with curiosity.

"Um, a while now. It seems like this is all I've ever done. Sometimes it's exciting and sometimes it's all paperwork. I get to meet lots of great people though." Dean flashed her a smile.

"Oh, I bet!" Dean suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and he dropped into the seat closest to him. "Are you okay, Agent?"

"Yeah, just got a dizzy spell there. That was odd." Just then her phone beeped over at the desk.

Tracey got up, went around to the door into the booth, and picked up the phone. When she came out she let Dean know the doctor was ready for him now and proceeded to work at unlocking the gate to the side. Dean got up and followed her down the hall, feeling a bit woozy. _It must have been those tacos._ He thought.

"Right through here are conference rooms and a few rooms set aside for group therapy." Tracey gave the tour as she motioned to various doors in the hall.

"Really? You have group therapy with the criminally insane? Those are murderers and stuff, right?"

"It takes very close observation and it obviously can't be done with everyone, but it can help a great deal with social skills."

"Uh huh."

"Straight ahead will be the doctor's office and at the end of the hall is kitchen services."

"Is there a cafeteria?"

"Oh no. Like the group therapy, it would be unwise to just let everyone out into a room together. No, the residents eat in their rooms." Tracey motioned down a hall that cut off from the one they were walking in. "Down there are the residential rooms and a few cells."

"Cells?"

"What we refer to as the padded cells or padded rooms. No furniture, the walls and floors all padded. Think of it as solitary for when a resident acts up. They can't hurt others or themselves in one. Sometimes after a disturbance, a resident needs to spend some time in a cell to cool off and calm down. Sometimes only long enough to for a particular medication to take effect and sometimes for days. Depends on the situation."

Dean nodded his head and had another wave of dizziness. He stopped and put his hand to the wall to steady himself. "Are you sure you're okay, Agent Tyler?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I think I got some bad grub from a local joint for lunch is all." Tracey gave him a concerned look for a moment and then continued on down the hall. She stopped a few doors down and held the door open. Dean entered what was a pretty normal looking office. To his right was a wall lined in books and a pretty plain desk. A closed manilla folder and a pen was all that graced it's surface. There was a chair in front of him that faced the desk. Beyond was a barred window and a water cooler. A gentleman, maybe sixty-five, stood up behind the desk and held out his hand for a shake. Dean eyed it with the proper amount of suspicion and then sat in the chair.

"Agent Tyler, is it? Glad you could make it! I'm Doctor Eric Christidis. Can I get you a drink? Coffee? Water?"

"No thanks. Thanks for agreeing to talk with me. I'm here about some missing persons reports."

"Ah, yes. You wouldn't be the first."

"Yes. I'm looking for three men in particular. All of whom are said to have come here."

"Yes. All three of them stopped here. A Randall, Nigel, and...ahh...Tom. That's it. Correct?"

Dean shook his head quickly. He was beginning to have double vision and the occasional sharp, stabbing pain would shoot across his temples. He held the heel of his hand to his temple, grimacing, hoping to ward off the headaches and the double vision. _What the hell was wrong with him?_

"Agent? Are you okay?"

Dean shook his head again, trying to clear it. "Yeah, um.. yes. You say they all stopped here. Do you know where they were headed after?" Dean swayed a bit in his chair and put a hand out to the desk to steady himself.

"They're all still here, Dean." Dean brought his head up at the mention of his real name and did so too quickly. The room spun around him and he again swayed in the chair. "I'd say the toxin is kicking in quite heavily now."

"Wha...? Toxin? What's going on? What's wrong with me?"

"You refused to shake hands, Dean. Are you afraid we're wraiths?"

Dean looked at him in confusion. He knew, deep down, that what the doctor was saying should be raising all sorts of red flags, but his head was swimming. He couldn't focus on any one thought long enough to grasp it and make sense of it. He held both his hands to his head now and tightly closed his eyes against the dizziness that was sweeping over him in waves.

"You look like you could use some fresh air and maybe a glass of water. The first time one is exposed to our toxin, it can be very disorientating. Would you like to get some air, Mr. Winchester?"

"Um..." Dean grabbed the armrest on his chair, fearing he'd fall right out of it if he didn't grab on. "Yeah...air...that sounds good." Dean kept squeezing his eyes shut, hoping that when he re-opened them, the double vision would be gone.

Tracey appeared out of nowhere and offered her arm. Dean grabbed it like a drowning man grabbing a life ring. She helped haul him to his feet and held him steady as they made their way out of the office. "Just walk this way, Dean, and I'll find you a nice quiet spot to sit and rest. You really took quite a bump to the head back there."

Dean looked at her in confusion. Did he bump his head? He couldn't remember.

"Eddie really should look where he's going. Knocked you right on your bum, he did. The way your head bounced off the floor...it's no wonder you're dizzy." Tracey kept up a running chatter as they moved down the hall and turned down the side hall. Dean continued to stare at her in confusion.

He suddenly swayed heavily and fell against the wall. Tracey held on tight, keeping him from falling to the floor. Dean put his right arm out along the wall, looking for support. The hallway was spinning wildly and he was amazed he was even still on his feet. "Just a bit further, honey." Dean turned to look at whoever was talking to him and gasped at what he saw, backing away and into the wall again.

"You! You're a ...a..." Dean tried desperately to become one with the wall in his attempts to get away from the thing before him.

Tracey retained her grip on Dean and leaned in close. "That really is a nasty bump. You're hallucinating now. We better get you to a doctor. Just a bit further, Dean, and I'll have a nice spot where you can rest." As soon as the thing appeared, it was gone and replaced with Tracey. No matter how many times Dean shook his head, it wouldn't clear. He nodded at her and they continued down the hall.

They stopped at the next door, which Tracey pushed open. It was an empty room, padded all the way around. "Looks nice." Dean slurred. Tracey gave him a small push and he stumbled into the room and fell to all fours. The world heaved onto it's side and Dean fell to his face and passed out.


	4. Chapter 4

_They knew who he was. At least two of them. Tracey seemed to be in on it with the doc. I gotta get word to Sam...Sam? Sammy!_ Dean jerked awake. His hand immediately going to his neck behind his ear. He felt no wound. Not sure why he was checking for a wound. A wraith generally didn't leave you alive after feeding on you. So why was he still alive?

Dean took in his surroundings. He was laying on the floor of one of Tracey's padded cells by the look of it. Walls, floor, and ceiling all padded for his protection. _How thoughtful._ Dean sat up and looked down at himself, checking for any injuries although he couldn't remember receiving any. In fact, he couldn't remember much of anything after being shown to the doc's office. He found no obvious injuries. He also found no clothes to speak of. He sat there in only a pair of scrub pants. No shirt, no shoes or socks. Just the pants.

"How are you feeling, Dean?" Dean looked up to see Tracey at a little window in the door.

"Like my head was run over by a semi." His vision seemed normal, but the raging headache at his temples remained. He got up and walked over to the door. He placed a hand on either side and leaned down so he was looking through the window at her.

"The sedatives they used to bring you down often leave a headache behind."

"Bring me down?" Dean was confused. He didn't remember an altercation of any kind.

"Dean you need to stop feeding the rage and let the violence go." She offered.

"What?"

"If you get violent every time they try to move you, you're going to find yourself permanently moved into one of these cells. Poor Harry had to get stitches!"

"What do you mean every time? I only just got here." Dean looked down at his hands. There was no sign of a fist fight.

She gave him a sympathetic look through the window. "Oh honey. You've been here for over six months."

"What?! No. No, no, no. That's wrong. I just got here today." Dean was wracking his brain, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Honey, you need to step away from the door so I can slide your lunch in."

"No. You need to let me go! I need to get to my brother!"

"Dean. Do we need to call Eddie and Kyle down here? Step away from the door."

"I want to talk to that doctor again! Um...Eric something."

"I'll see what I can do but if you don't step back right now, you won't like the consequences."

Dean stepped away from the door in a daze. "You'll get me in to see him?"

"Yes. Step a little further back, please."

Dean walked back to the center of the room. A slot opened in the bottom of the door and a tray slid through. The slot closed and Tracey gave him the go ahead to move. He walked over to the tray and lifted the lid off the plate. It looked like your typical BLT. There were some green beans on the side, their juice flowing under the sandwich, making it a soggy mess, and a small bowl with applesauce. "Nice appetizer. Where's the rest?"

Tracey chuckled. "Enjoy your lunch and I'll see if I can get you in with the doctor." The little window slapped shut and she was gone.

Dean wasn't sure what was going on but he knew that wraiths messed with your head. He decided he just wasn't going to believe anything any of them said for now. He sat down next to the tray of food. He wanted so badly to eat but knew they could have put anything in there. For now he wouldn't risk it. His stomach wasn't happy with the decision. After a while, Dean got up and paced in circles around the room.

Eventually Tracey came by. "Dean. You didn't eat?"

"Not hungry." Dean stayed away from the door this time.

"Eddie and Kyle will be here shortly to take you down to see the doctor. I'm afraid with your current track record, some restraint will be necessary. Are you going to be okay with that?"

"There is no current track record. I just came here today. I don't know what you're talking about." Dean was getting frustrated and started pacing back and forth in the small room.

"You're getting yourself all worked up. If you want to see him, you're going to be restrained. There is no other way."

Dean sighed. He didn't like the idea of restraint in any form. He couldn't fight back or escape very well when restrained. Although, if they had wanted to kill him, they would taken advantage of the opportunity while he was out. Wouldn't they? One thing was certain, he wasn't going to find out what was going on around here by sitting in a padded room. "Fine."

"You're going to behave?"

"Yes, yes. Can we just do this already?"

Dean could now hear other voices out in the hall. "He ready?"

"Yes. Says he'll cooperate this time."

"Fat chance." Another voice answered.

"There is no this time! This is the first time!" Dean raised his voice in frustration.

A new face looked through the window at him. "You keep telling yourself that." He turned his head to the side. "We'll let you know when you can come in and grab the tray. Just give us a chance to get him in line." The guy looked in again. "Go place your hands on the back wall. You know the routine, Winchester."

"Not really." Dean mumbled under his breath. He went to the back of the room and placed his hands on the wall. He figured the sooner this was over, the sooner he could lose these douchewads.

He heard the door open and nothing more, the padded floor covering the sound of their footsteps. As soon as he heard their breathing, one of them grabbed him in a half nelson, through his right arm, and grabbed his other arm and pulled it back. "We have a nice jacket for you to wear." A voice growled in his ear.

"Oh. This one of those 'no shirt - no service' type of establishments?" This was met with a harder shove to the back of his head, bending him over a bit.

"Okay, Kyle, I'm ready. Turn him around."

Kyle turned around, hauling Dean with him. When they were facing whom Dean assumed was Eddie, he noticed he was holding out a straight jacket. "Oh seriously? Is this really necessary?

"You wanna see the doc or not?" Eddie asks and gives the jacket a little shake.

"Well I thought handcuffs or something. I don't think you need that, fellas. I said I'd be a good little boy." Dean's mind was racing. He could slip out of cuffs, but he'd never been in a straight jacket before. He was liking this less and less.

"Then be a good little boy and get this on." Eddie said this with a nod of his head to Kyle. They didn't wait for Dean, but muscled his arms into the sleeves.

Dean could feel them buckling buckles up the back and then Kyle's hand reached through his legs and pulled a strap up. "Hey, whoa! Watch it there!"

Kyle made sure to pull the strap nice and snug, giving Dean a permanent wedgie and leaving him trying to adjust himself without hands to do so. "Wrap your arms around." Eddie instructed. Dean assumed the position and they buckled his arms behind him very tightly.

"Man. Leave enough room for a guy to breathe why don't you?"

There were a pair of straps around about his shoulder blades and Eddie and Kyle each grabbed one. "Ok, Tracey, come get the food tray out of here." Tracey came in, grabbed the tray from the floor and held the door open for them. They led Dean down the hall and to a small room. In it was a table with a chair on either side. The doctor sat in the far one and Dean was shoved into the closer one.

"What can I do for you today, Dean?" He smiled like nothing was wrong.

"I want you to let me go."

"Why would I do that? You think we're wraiths. And, although we're not, you're a threat."

"You're not wraiths."

"Heavens no! They are bastard crossbreeds we have little to no dealings with. Filthy things."

"Uh huh. Then what are you?" Dean's head was starting to throb again and he was breaking out into a cold sweat.

"You wouldn't be able to pronounce what we are called."

"Try me."

"What I mean is, you are physically unable to, but suffice it to say we could be likened to a succubus of sorts."

Dean was beginning to feel dizzy again and his heart was starting to pound. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because there is nothing you or your brother, whom I'm sure will turn up eventually, can do about it."

Dean frowned at him in confusion. He was starting to breathe heavily as if running from something. His anxiety levels jumped through the roof. Something was going on here and he wasn't sure what. He looked over at Eddie and Kyle, who had taken up positions by the door. He could see them for the wraiths they were.

Dean jumped up out of his seat. "Liar! I can see the wraiths!" He started backing to the far end of the table from the orderlies.

"You're hallucinating, Dean. It's the toxin taking effect." Eric said.

"No. Stay away from me!" Curse the stupid straight jacket! How was he supposed to fight like this. The two men slowly came toward him. Kyle got to him first and Dean rammed his knee into his groin. Kyle went down to one knee groaning. Dean quickly looked at Eddie who was wisely keeping the chair between them. Dean swung out with his other foot and kicked the chair. For whatever reason, it caught Eddie by surprise and bounced off his face. His head whipped back from the impact and he brought the back of his hand up his mouth, pulling it away bloody from where his lip had split.

Dean didn't waste time with his usual bravado but made his way back behind the desk, between the doctor and the wall. "I don't know what you're seeing, Dean, but we're not wraiths. I have told you nothing but the truth." Eric said calmly. His calm demeanor, when Dean was so on edge, only served to freak Dean out even more.

Eddie had helped Kyle up and they had split themselves up, each making his way slowly around either end of the table. Dean was trapped. "Stay away! Stay away from me!" Dean kept his eyes moving back and forth between the two monsters as he struggled to free his arms from the straight jacket.

The doctor calmly said. "I'm not sure why you ignore me. You think I'm the feeble, older gentleman that I portray?" Eric suddenly leaped up out of his seat, grabbed Dean by the neck, and slammed him against the wall. Dean's eyes grew even larger in fear and surprise than they already had been. He struggled against the old man's grip as best he could, but Eric lifted him up until his feet were dangling off the floor and he couldn't breathe. "I think, Dean, it's time for a snack."

He let go and Dean dropped to the floor gasping and moaning. "No. No. Please. I need to get to my brother. Please." As Dean was pleading, Eddie and Kyle had made their way around the table and grabbed him by the straps on the back of the jacket, hauling him to his feet.

"Take him down and secure him." Eric instructed.

Like a trigger, his words set Dean off. He started struggling and thrashing, kicking wildly with his legs. The two creatures lugged him into the hall where Kyle lost his grip and Dean almost got away. "Grab his legs, man!" Dean grunted and growled, thrashing and kicking his legs. He almost landed a kick to Kyle's face, but when he missed, it was the opening Kyle needed and he was able to wrap his arms around his legs and lift Dean off the floor and away from the only leverage he had.

They carried him down the hall, Dean raging incoherently at them and struggling in vain the whole way. They passed into a room where they then dumped him onto a gurney. Dean wasted no time but sat half way up and kicked out with his foot, smashing it into Kyle's face. He went down like a sack of potatoes. Dean then brought his knee up, hitting Eddie, who was trying in vain to wrangle Dean's legs, in the side of the head. Eddie backed away and Dean sat all the way up, swinging his legs to the side to hop off the gurney. But before he could get that far, a third person grabbed him at his shoulders and slammed him back down on the bed.

"Lay on his fucking legs you idiot!" A voice said. Eddie came back into view and threw his entire body across Dean's thighs and knees as the new person leaned heavily into his shoulders, pinning him to the bed. Dean could barely move, but kept fighting anyway. He refused to go down without a fight.

Someone had grabbed his feet and was working at strapping them down at the foot of the bed. Once they were done, Eddie got up. Dean bucked on the bed wildly, his back arching off it's surface. Eddie had ahold of another strap that he pulled across Dean's mid section, securing him further.

"No! Damn it! My brother needs me! You can't do this!" Dean screamed, continuing to fight ineffectively.

"Help me get his head!" As the third man held his shoulders, Eddie came over and started shoving Dean's head to the right, but Dean fought the action tooth and nail.

"Shit, this fucker's strong!" Eddie groused.

Then Kyle's voice rang out. "Step back, Eddie. I got this." Eddie let go of Dean's head and moved out of view and Dean saw Kyle step up. The side of his face was already quite swollen from the kick he took earlier. Before Dean could totally register all this, though, Kyle punched him square in the jaw, snapping his head to the side. He then smashed his hands into the left side of Dean's face, holding his right cheek firmly to the gurney's surface. Unknown man number three then proceeded to strap Dean's head down sideways to the bed.

"We're better than wraiths, Dean. Wraiths kill their food." The doctor came into Dean's line of sight. He ran the back of his hand down Dean's cheek in an almost loving manner. Dean's eyes were rolling in his head much like a frightened horse. He tried in vain to jerk his head away from Eric. "I'm not going to kill you Dean. We can feed off you for years before your body gives out."

By this point, Dean was keeping up a steady mantra of 'no's' repeated over and over. As he looked up at Eric looming over him, Eric opened his mouth impossibly far and two long snake-like fangs popped down from the roof of his mouth. He leaned down and latched onto the side of Dean's neck, driving the fangs into the back of his neck at his spine. Dean screamed.

He could feel the fangs pulsing in his neck as Eric sucked who knows what from his spine. He was beginning to feel light headed and his fear and anxiety were slowly slipping away. Things got a little hazy and his eyes rolled up into his skull as he passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam sat staring at his laptop, or rather through it, his hand resting around his cell phone. His finger tapped out a rhythm of nerves upon the cell phone's surface. He would occasionally glance at the phone, willing it to ring. It was three o'clock and Dean hadn't checked in yet. Should he try calling him instead? It could be he was still at the asylum. Or maybe he's gone on to interview someone in the community. But Dean would have called if he was going to leave the asylum. He would have checked in.

He sat in indecision. He would give him another hour and then call. In the meantime, he wasn't having any luck in the research. He just knew, in his gut, that it wasn't wraiths they were dealing with. But not having any other info to go on wasn't helping. There was no body to see. Were the hunters being killed? If so, how? Knowing those type of things could help him narrow down the search. Some things he could rule out. Werewolves, for example, tended toward the messy kill. If they were involved, a mutilated body would have been found by now. It's not shape shifters or they would have seeing the missing persons around town. No. Sam was beginning to think this might be something new.

Sam's cell rang and he jumped, lost in his own thoughts. Finally Dean was calling. He picked up the phone. "Dean. Finally. How did it go?"

"What? Sam its me, Garth."

"Oh. Sorry. Thought you were Dean."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"No. He's just a little late checking in. I'm sure he's just wandered into a bar or something. Wouldn't be the first time. What do you need, Garth?"

There was a loaded pause and then Garth continued. "Well. The more I think about this, the more I find myself agreeing with you. I don't think we're dealing with wraiths."

"Yeah? Well I've had no luck. Without knowing more particulars, I don't know what direction to even go in."

"Hmm. Maybe we can look into mod-us operand i. How do wraiths operate? Then search for creatures that hunt with similar methods."

Sam closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Sam?"

"Yeah, Garth, I'm still here. That sounds like a good idea."

"You're worried about Dean and you have every right to be. I don't need to remind you that three hunters are already missing, do I?"

"No, no. I'll call him as soon as we're done here. If I can't reach him, I'll go up there myself."

"No. Sam you can't do that. That's what Dean and three other hunters have done and none of them have come back."

"Well I'm not just going to write him off."

"I'm not suggesting you do. Just, get up there and observe from a safe distance. Don't go charging in there guns blazing or they'll grab you next. What good will that do?"

Sam sighed. He knew what Garth said was right. It didn't make it any easier to swallow, though. "Fine. Okay, you're right. If I can't reach Dean, I'll go up after dark and see what Intel I can gather. In the meantime..."

"In the meantime, I'll try the research from this new angle and see what I can find. Sam?"

"Yeah."

"We'll get him back."

"Damn straight." _But in what shape would they get him back in?_ Sam wondered.

"Keep in touch! Call me before you leave and then every two hours after."

"Garth..."

"Sam, I mean it! If they nab you, the sooner I know about it, the sooner I can get help."

"Yessir." Sam said with a grin. He was almost surprised Garth didn't call him an idgit.

"Talk to you soon."

"Yeah." Sam hung up, paused a moment and then tried his brother's number. He was probably at the local bar having a beer.

_This is Dean. You know what to do._

"Dean, it's Sam. Garth is getting paranoid. Would you please call back so I can tell him you're fine?" There. He can blame Garth for his case of nerves. He decided to give him an hour. If he didn't call back, he'd call him one more time. If he didn't get an answer, he'd make plans for a little night time recon up at the asylum.

Sam spent the next hour alternately pacing the small motel room and trying in vain to do some research. Every time he sat down at the computer, he could only see Dean being spiked by a wraith. He knew in his heart it wasn't wraiths, but his imagination wasn't listening. Try as he might to work, and push the thoughts out of his head, the images always came back. Then he would get up and pace, constantly checking his watch. Then he would think he was wasting valuable time that could be spent at the computer and go back. Repeat this over and over.

Finally he decided it was close enough to an hour and pulled out his cell. He fully expected Dean to answer, so sure that he was that Dean was just being lazy. Needless to say, he was genuinely surprised when he once again got Dean's voice mail.

"That's it, Dean! Where ever you are...I'm coming to get you, brother."

Sam grabbed his jacket and practically ran out the door only to come to a screeching halt. He forgot Dean had the car and that included all the gear in the trunk. Sam looked around. The motel was located at one end of town. He went into the office, asked directions, and started walking into town at a brisk pace. He came to a sporting goods store that doubled as the local hardware store. Handy. He picked up a decent pair of binoculars and a pair of bolt cutters. He wandered around but couldn't think of anything else he would need. He was sure something would come up later, but he was having trouble focusing even on what he did have.

Back at the motel, he changed clothes and looked up a local map online. He packed a bag and went back to town to grab a bite to eat and wait for dark.

Once it was dark, Sam 'borrowed' a car from a used car lot and drove out to a small farming road that went down along the side of the asylum property. He pulled off into a particularly heavily wooded area and then walked back about a mile. He ducked down behind some bushes and made quick work of the fence with the bolt cutters. After slipping through, he darted from tree to bush to tree again, making his way toward the front of the complex.

He hunkered down in some bushes and gave the front a look. With the binoculars, he could see right into the waiting room at the front. The only person in attendance was a woman in an enclosed booth. She took a few calls, kept busy with something, and smiled frequently. Sam wondered what the creature looked like that they were dealing with. Could it pose as human? Was it hidden away in some dark basement room? Was it one or multiple monsters? Sam hated not knowing anything. He considered the research his niche and he had failed miserably at it so far this time.

Sam, seeing nothing of great interest, decided to make his way around the entire complex. Most of the buildings he came to were boarded up. He found no signs of secret use either. Apparently it was just the main building in use at this time. Along the sides, he would stop and survey the structure through his binoculars. Unfortunately, all the windows were frosted. All he ever caught was the occasional shadow passing by a window.

He found it interesting that there was no security that he could see, anywhere out on the grounds. That would be very odd if this were, indeed, an asylum for the criminally insane. One would think the place would be crawling with armed guards. It only further proved it was all a cover for something more sinister.

He continued his route around the complex. At the back, he came across a slightly hidden loading bay. There was a truck there now, unloading what appeared to be boxes and crates of fruits and vegetables. It all seemed so ordinary, aside from the lack of guards, that it left Sam feeling more frustrated than when he started. He was about ready to pack it in when the delivery truck's engine roared to life. He decided to sit tight until it was gone, not wanting to get caught in it's headlights.

As it pulled out it revealed all the proof Sam needed to know his brother was here and in trouble. There, parked in the back corner, was the Impala. There were empty boxes and crates full of who knows what stacked haphazardly on it's trunk. Something Dean would NEVER be ok with. Sam wondered if the contents of the trunk were intact. Once they found out what they were dealing with, here, they may need something from the weapons box to take care of it.

He glanced at his watch, it's soft green glow lighting up his face in the dark. He was five minutes late in calling Garth. He quickly made his back to the fence and ran along it until he found his point of entry. He squeezed out and started down the road to his borrowed car. As he walked, he pulled out his phone and called Garth.

"Hey Garth. Just checking in."

"Good to hear from you. You find anything?"

"Well, without breaking and entering, there's not much to learn. The building has frosted and barred windows, so I can't see in. But I did find proof that Dean is there."

"Yeah?"

"The Impala is tucked away in the back, at a loading dock, with junk scattered all over the trunk."

"That settles that, then."

"Yeah. So, how about you? Research getting you anywhere?"

"I haven't found anything concrete yet, but it is starting to look promising. I'll keep you posted."

Sam got back to the car. "Well, once I get back to the room, I'll dig into the research too. Between the two of us, we're bound to find something. The sooner the better."

"Agreed. Do me a favor, Sam?"

"Sure."

"Keep checking in every two hours?"

After realizing Dean was in there and in trouble, Sam had no problem with having someone else at his back. "No problem. Until later, then." Garth said his goodbyes and Sam headed back to the used car lot.


	6. Chapter 6

Dean came to on a bed in a room. The headache wasn't so bad this time around but the back of his neck was sore. He sat up and reached back and felt it. It was tender to the touch but he couldn't feel any discernible wound. He looked around the room. The bed was a simple metal frame, single, complete with rounded edges. Wouldn't want any injuries. There was a small desk with stool. He was sitting up in the bed facing the door. He got up and felt the sudden overwhelming need to take a leak.

He glanced around the room. There had to be a way for a guy to relieve himself. Even crazy people peed...right? When he turned, he noticed a tiny room between the bed and the outside wall. In it was a toilet and a wall mounted hand sanitizer dispenser. There was no door. "What the hell, man? Not even a sink?" Dean moaned. He needed a drink. He dropped trow, leaned heavily against the wall, and took care of business. He couldn't believe how sore he was. He felt like he'd been in an all night wrestling match.

"Dean? Show yourself." A voice rang out.

"Keep your pants on." Dean shook off and got himself put together. Rubbing hand sanitizer on his hands, he came around the corner to see Eddie looking in the little window in the door. "What?"

"How you feeling today?"

"Why?"

"Just wondering after Randall thought you were a vampire and tried beheading you in group yesterday."

Dean frowned. He had no memory of any such incident. He had only been here a day, right? "Nah. Don't start in with your head games again. I've only been here a day."

"Huh. You bumped your head harder than we thought, then. Anyway. Time for lunch. Put your hands on the opposite wall." Eddie waited for Dean to comply. Dean sighed and did as asked. He heard the door open and the rattle as a food tray was set on the bed. "It's your favorite...grilled cheese."

Dean heard the slam of the door and the keys jingling at the lock. "Okay, enjoy." He turned around and went over to the tray on his bed. Lifting the lid, he caught a whiff of the food and his stomach immediately clenched in hunger. He tried to remember the last time he ate. Tacos with Sammy. When was that? They way they would have him believe, that was months ago.

He looked at the grilled cheese, now soggy from the condensation under the lid. He had to take the risk. He couldn't escape if he starved to death first. He took a big bite and really had to choke it down. "Damn! That tastes like ass!" As bad as it was, though, his stomach seemed to clench even harder after that first bite. He forced it all down. The grilled cheese, the small bowl of apple sauce, and even the three asparagus spears. It was all horrible, but his stomach thanked him none the less.

He ate the meal standing up. He was antsy and felt like the nerves under his skin were on fire. He needed to get out of here. He really hated feeling like a caged animal. He looked around the room again, zeroing in on the window. The glass was frosted and he could tell there were bars on the outside. Inside, the entire window was covered in a metal grating. He tried to grab at it and give it a good tug, but the mesh was so small he couldn't even get his fingers into the weave. So he focused on the brackets attaching it to the wall. He dug and tugged at every one, but they were all firmly connected.

He sighed and turned back to the room. There was some sort of duct in the ceiling, but even if he could reach it, he would never be able to fit through it. It was only about a foot square. He inspected the bed with all it's curved edges. The bed frame was bolted to the floor. He glanced at the under side. A metal weave with springs. Given enough time to himself, he may be able to loosen a piece off and use it as a weapon...maybe. That was reaching though.

So, the only exit from this room was through the door. He went over and started inspecting every inch of the door. The handle, the lock, the hinges, and even the little door on the window they would open to peek in on him. As he was crouched down, looking at the bottom hinge. He heard the window open. "Now where are you?"

Dean popped up. "Right here." Eddie visibly jumped making Dean grin.

"I don't know what you're up to, Winchester, but the boss wants a chat."

"Ooo, goody! Do I get to wear that lovely jacket again? I liked it. Felt like wearing a hug." Dean poured on the sass. It was the only weapon he had access to.

"Funny. No. He's coming here, so go get your hands on the far wall." Dean stared at him for a moment. He hated going along with their crap, but seeing as how the door was his only way out of here, then any time it was open was an opportunity. He sighed in resignation and strolled over to the far wall and placed his hands on it.

He heard the door open and Eddie approaching. When he thought he was close, he made a fist with his right hand and spun. Eddie was waiting for him, though, and caught him by the wrist and twisted his arm up behind his back. He pulled Dean close and reached around, with his left hand, and grabbed Dean by the throat. "Shit. What the hell?" Dean wheezed out.

"Like I said...boss wants a chat." At that, Eric walked in.

"How are you feeling today, Dean?"

"Seriously? You here to psycho analyze me?"

"Nope. Just being polite. I'm actually here to run a small experiment."

"An experiment, huh?" Eddie had loosened his grip on Dean's throat, but not enough for him to slip out.

"Yes. You see, unlike wraiths who need to physically touch you to poison your minds, we transfer our toxins as a gas." Dean frowned at him. "We simply breath and you humans just suck it right in. You never have a chance, really."

"Nice, monster 101. What's this got to do with anything?" When all else fails, use bravado.

"Well, here's the 411...we can control the level of toxins. We can dose you with just enough to make you dizzy or hit you with the full amount, sending you to the moon. What the toxin does is, it causes the brain to release a full-on cocktail of chemicals. What chemicals are produced varies greatly with each person and even with each exposure. Makes for a gourmet meal every time!"

"Lovely."

"It is, isn't it? Anyway, today's experiment is to see how fast the toxin can affect you when given at the full dose."

"Why?"

"Why? For science of course! This is valuable knowledge when faced with a potential fight or flight scenario. If we know we can take an enemy down in twenty seconds verses, say, two minutes, it could mean the difference between life and death!"

"Well, by all means. For the betterment of monster-kind!" Eddie chuckled.

"We've tried this on several humans. The reaction time is sadly quite slow. But...the three hunters we've tried this on? Completely different results! It's very exciting actually."

"Uh huh." Dean wasn't liking the sound of this.

"So." Eric brought his wrist up and hit a button on his wrist watch. "The experiment starts now."

"Now? Like, are you breathing the creeping crud on me right now?"

"Yes, Dean." Eric never took his eyes off his watch.

Dean suddenly looked up into the corner of the ceiling and he jerked hard in Eddie's hands. "Shit!" He whispered.

"Excellent!" Eric said, hitting another button on his watch and looking at Dean. "Best yet! Twelve seconds!" Dean continued to try to break free of Eddie's grasp, never taking his eyes off the ceiling. He started making a keening sound of distress. His eyes darted around the ceiling, moving back and forth across it. Eric nodded at Eddie and he let go of Dean who immediately backed up to the wall, holding his arms out at the ready.

"Why didn't we think to nab hunters before?" Eddie asked Eric, both of them essentially ignoring Dean now.

"I know. With all the crap hunters have seen, and all the horrors rolling around in their heads, it takes no time at all for the fear to set in." They started toward the door, seemingly forgetting all about Dean.

"Hey! Wait! You guys can't leave me in here with it!" Dean ran over to them and Eddie simply shoved him back. Dean stumbled over his own feet and fell to his butt.

Eric continued talking. "One more hunter and there will be one for each of us. I'm sure Sam Winchester will show up in no time. In fact, I'm surprised he hasn't already. We've had Dean for twenty four hours now."

"Well, the bait has been set. Like you said, it's only a matter of time."

While Eric and Eddie were talking shop, Dean was freaking out. After landing on his butt he scooted back toward the window and out of the center of the room. He looked around, frantically searching for a weapon of any kind. The creature kept skittering around on the ceiling. Dean slid along the side of the room toward the desk. He picked up the stool, it being the only thing in the room not nailed down. The creature came to a stop in the corner above the door. Eddie and Eric oblivious of it's presence.

"Not in a cage! Not like this!" Dean took the stool and slung it for all he was worth up toward the creature. The stool narrowly missed Eddie's head, careened out of the corner and flew across the room, coming to rest by the window.

"What the hell, Winchester?"

"Let's leave Dean to it, Eddie. If he's still buzzing in an hour, go ahead and eat. I'm all set from last night's snack and there's no reason to let a good meal go to waste."

Eddie gave an evil grin in Dean's direction and followed Eric out of the room, locking up behind himself. Dean ran to the door and pounded his fists on it. "You can't leave me in here with it! I don't have any weapons! Stop! Come back!"

Dean spun around, the creature had taken the distraction to sneak up on Dean. It took a swipe at him and he ducked and rolled away. "Shit!" He ran for the stool and grabbed it again. When he turned it hissed at him. "Eat this, bitch!" He chucked the stool at it again. It had hardly any effect. It bounced off it's shoulder, flew off the wall above the bed, caromed off the door, and ended spinning in a circle in the middle of the floor, one of it's metal legs bent at a crazy angle.

The creature had backed into the far corner near the desk. Dean took a step toward the stool and it lunged forward, hissing at him. He jumped back. "Shit. Shit, shit, shit." His heart was racing triple time, the sweat poured off him. He could get closer to the stool if he were over by the bed. He slowly inched along until he was in front of it. He then reached out toward the stool but it lunged again. He again jumped back, falling back onto the bed. The creature skittered over and circled above him. Dean screamed and quickly rolled off and under the bed.

He backed all the way under, turned toward the wall, and curled into the fetal position. He covered his face with his hands. "If I can't see it, it can't see me. It can't see me...can't see me...can't see me..." Dean continued the mantra losing all track of time.

"Dean?" Tracey crouched down at the bed's edge. "Dean, what are you hiding from?" He didn't respond. In fact, she wasn't even sure he heard her. She turned to Eddie, who was crouched down next to her. He shrugged his shoulders. She leaned down and shook Dean's shoulder. He jumped and screamed. "Dean calm down."

"No. It's out there waiting."

"Dean. There's nothing out here. You need to come out."

"No! It can't see me."

Tracey turned to Eddie again. "How much toxin did you guys give him?"

"He got a full dose from Eric."

"Damn. Maybe Eric really is as strong as he claims. I've never seen anyone this far under an hour out before."

"Yeah? Well I'm starving and don't have time for this shit." Eddie growled. He reached under the bed and grabbed Dean's ankle, yanking his feet out and around. He grabbed the other ankle when it came around and started to haul him out from under the bed.

Dean yelled again. "No! I can't go out there! Damn it!" He reached up and grabbed some of the wires from the under side of the bed. It became a tug of war with his body playing the part of the rope.

"Come out from under there, you fucker!" Eddie leaned back on his feet putting all his weight into it.

Both men were grunting and growling with effort. A wire somewhere under the bed gave way and Dean jerked out another five inches. "NO!" He looked up and saw more wires beginning to bend under the strain. They were so thin, they were hard to hold onto and he could feel them digging into his hands.

"You're mine, Winchester! You just don't know it yet!" Eddie was practically laying back parallel to the floor in his efforts. Another wire snapped and slid though Dean's right hand, slicing it open as it went. He jerked out another foot.

"Son of a bitch!" Suddenly the other wire let go, slicing through his left hand. He flew out from under the bed, landing in a tangled heap with Eddie. Eddie was up in a heartbeat and was straddling Dean's legs. Dean was trying in vain to pull himself back, but his bloody hands just slipped along the tiled floor, leaving red smears behind.

Eddie reached forward and grabbed a handful of Dean's short hair, pulling him up off the floor toward him. Dean took a swing and punched him in the face. He couldn't get near enough momentum in the swing with his lower half held beneath Eddie, but it made a satisfying crunch when it landed. Unfortunately it didn't slow Eddie down at all. He snapped out his fangs and grabbed Dean's arm with his other hand, holding it out to the side.

Dean's eyes grew huge and he reached out with his free hand and grabbed Eddie's shoulder trying to hold him away, but he was no match for Eddie's strength and leverage. Eddie leaned in, pulling Dean closer and sank his fangs into the back of Dean's neck. Dean let out a scream and continued to struggle, leaving bloody smears all over Eddie's scrub top. He eventually stilled and succumbed to unconsciousness.

Eddie finished his meal and dropped Dean's body to the floor. "Damn, we should've gone hunter ages ago. That was amazing!" He looked down at himself. "Fucker made a mess of my clothes, though." He looked around. "And the floor and the bed." He stood up. "If he thinks I'm cleaning this mess up he can forget it!" He walked out of the room. Tracey looked down at Dean, grabbed the blanket from the bed, and draped it down over Dean's still form and followed Eddie out.

"We're going to have to have the doc look at his hands." She said as they locked up and headed down the hall.


	7. Chapter 7

"Sorry it took me so long to get here. I had an emergency over in Hillside." Doc Evans said. Tracey was escorting him down the hall to Dean's room.

"It's no problem, Jack. It's not life threatening. How's Dottie doing?"

"Well... I've been keeping her apprised of your results here and I think she has come around. I think we'll see if we can find a hunter when the current food ticket expires."

"I have to admit, they do taste different. It's like trying filet mignon when all you've ever had was beef jerky. It's amazing."

They got to Dean's room and she let him in. He walked in and stopped short. "What happened in here?" Tracey came around him and saw the smears of blood all over the floor.

"Oh. It's really not as bad as it looks. He's a fighter." Jack went over and knelt down next to Dean. He lifted the blanket away and gave Dean a cursory inspection.

"How long has he been like this?"

"Out, you mean?" Jack nodded and Tracey checked her watch. "About four hours now."

"Has he moved at all?" Jack reached down and grabbed Dean's wrist, checking his pulse.

Tracey looked at Dean. "I don't think so, no. Why?"

"His breathing is very slow. It reminds me of someone in a coma. But his heart rate is good and strong."

"Eric dosed him hard and fast. Maybe it's taking more for him to come down from it."

"These the only injuries?" He looked at Dean's hands and around at the blood again.

"Yeah. Sliced them open on the under side of the bed."

"Well, the one doesn't look too bad, but I think his left hand will need a couple stitches." He set to work cleaning and bandaging Dean's right hand. "Are they all like this?"

"Who?"

"The hunters. If they all fight like this, Dot won't go for having one."

"No. He's the only one. Probably because Eric keeps letting him come down from the toxin and then re-dosing him. It's messing with his head. All the others are drooling hot messes." Tracey chuckled.

"Good to know. Here, hold his hand open...like this." He proceeded to put three stitches in Dean's left hand and then bandaged it as well. "He seems healthy otherwise. Let me give him a tetanus shot, just in case. Roll him over a bit." Jack dug in his bag a bit and pulled out a syringe and a bottle. Once it was ready, he yanked down the top edge of Dean's pants and jabbed it into his butt. "All set."

"Thanks for coming."

"Not a bother. Glad to help. A healthy meal ticket is a tasty meal ticket." Doc Evans pulled the blanket back up over Dean and followed Tracey out of the room.

ooooooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooooooo

Sam paced around the motel room. His eyes were crossing with the research. He needed a break. He was getting frustrated. He wasn't finding jack squat and the whole time Dean was being held by who knew what! Who knew if he was even still... No. He couldn't allow himself to think that way. Just then his cell rang. He glanced at his watch, he was ten minutes late on checking in with Garth.

"Hey Garth. Sorry."

"It's okay, Sam. I'm just glad to hear your voice."

"I've just been sitting here digging fruitlessly for info. I'm getting nowhere."

"Well on that note, I think I may have found something. I'm not for sure. I really need to check some of Bobby's old books first."

"That's great, Garth." Sam sighed with relief. "What have you found?"

"Would you accept snake-like creatures that feed off the spinal cord fluid just below the skull?"

"Umm. I guess, at this point, I'd accept just about anything. How do we kill them?"

"Now hold on. That's why I need Bobby's books. I first need to confirm the creature and then see if I can find a way to stop it. I think the books I need are in a storage lock up I set up over in Riverside. Not too far from here. I'll keep you posted."

"Sounds good. Finally...anything is better than what we had. Keep in touch."

"Of course! I'll talk to you in two"

They hung up and Sam sat down at his computer to see what he could find. He woke up three hours later, head resting on his keyboard. He checked his watch. _Shit. I missed Garth's call._

He grabbed his cell off the table and checked it. Odd. There were no missed calls. He hit the button to call Garth. It went straight to voice mail. Sam frowned. Knowing Garth, he had probably let his cell battery die.

He got up and stepped outside for some fresh air, surprised it was dark already. That's it. He couldn't just sit here any longer. He went back in and brought up a map of the area again. He could get to the asylum on foot in about twenty minutes if he went in a direct line through the fields and woods. He grabbed his flashlight and gun from his bag, threw on his jacket, and headed out.

On the way, he called Garth and got his voice mail once again. "Garth why aren't you answering? I thought I was supposed to be the one in danger. Anyway, I'm about to do something stupid. I'm going to see if I can get inside and see what there is to see. Maybe find Dean or the others. I'll check in as planned. Don't worry."

Twenty five minutes later he was coming up outside the asylum. He made his way along the fencing until he found his entry point from the night before. Slipping in, he made his way toward where the Impala was. Not knowing for sure what he was truly up against, he wanted to get a silver blade from the trunk.

He sat in some bushes watching the loading area for over an hour. He was waiting to see what type of security there was, but he never saw anyone. He dialed Garth and, getting the voice mail again, left a message as to his well being.

He decided there wasn't any security to speak of. Outside of guards, he didn't see any security cameras either. The time wasn't going to get any better. He ran in a crouch over to the Impala and started pulling the boxes and crates off the trunk. He stopped to look at a scratch in the paint. Dean wasn't going to like that.

"Can I help you?"

Sam turned around. A man about Dean's size stood there in scrubs. He had a badge and a set of keys hanging from his waist as well as what looked like a tazer. "Um no. I um..."

"You new?"

Sam chuckled, embarrassed. "Yeah. They sent me out here to get, I don't even know what. They said it was sitting on the trunk of a car out here, but these are all just empty boxes."

"Yeah? Well those guys in food services like to mess with the new guys. I don't even see a badge...how new are you?"

"First night. They said they would have my ID to me before my shift was over."

"Freaking human resources. They're so slow. You do know you wouldn't have been able to get back in without your badge?"

Sam looked sheepishly at the ground. "Well, I hadn't thought about that."

The man chuckled. "I think that's what those fools were hoping for. Come on, then. I'll let you back in." He turned and started for the door. He stopped and turned back. "You coming, kid?"

Sam hurried to catch up and stumbled, falling into the man. "Whoa, there kid. You okay?"

Sam shook his head as if trying to clear it. "Yeah. A bit dizzy is all."

"Name's Harry, by the way. What's yours?"

They had made it to a small set of steps leading up to a door. Sam leaned heavily on the railing for a moment. "Sam. The name's Sam."

"Well, Sam, we've been waiting for you." Harry helped guide Sam up the steps where he stumbled again and fell into the door. "Take it easy. Let's get you inside where you can sit down and take a load off."

He held a steadying hand on Sam's shoulder and pulled out a walkie talkie with the other. "Kyle, get down to loading, I've bagged Eddie his meal ticket, but I'm going to need a hand." He put back the walkie talkie and heaved on Sam's arm, pulling him back off the door so that he could get it open. Once inside, Sam held a hand along the wall for support as they walked.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm sure I've been drinking enough." Sam frowned. His head was so muddled.

"Meh. Probably the flu. It's going around. Just a bit further."

Suddenly the world tilted sideways. Sam fell back against the wall. He turned and looked to see if Harry was okay and saw a wraith in his place. Sam gasped and fumbled for the gun at his back. He started to fall to the side with the motion and the wraith placed it's forearm against his chest holding him up. This was all too surreal, thought Sam.

He finally pulled his gun out of the space between his back and the wall. The wraith, moving impossibly fast for Sam's confused and dizzy brain to keep up with, reached out and slammed Sam's gun hand to the wall. The gun went off and Sam let out a startled shout. He looked over at the gun in shock, as if he couldn't figure out how it had gotten there. He freaked out and dropped the gun.

"Settle down Sam. It'll be okay."

Sam, panting and sweating, turned back to the wraith and found Harry standing there. He frowned. Where did the wraith go?

"Come on, then. Let's get you someplace more comfortable." Just then, another man cam around a corner in the hall. "Kyle, good. I don't think he's going to make it to the room. Grab his other arm."

They each draped one of Sam's arms over their shoulders and started leading him down the hall. Sam's head was spinning and his vision kept fading in and out. He fought it but to no avail. He passed out.

"Damn it. I knew it." Harry grumbled.

"Only around the bend here. Dang this guy's a sasquatch!"

"Huh. Eddie should like him." The men chuckled and dragged Sam into an empty padded room around the corner. "You start getting him undressed. I'll go find a pair of scrub pants for him and let Eric know his latest guest has arrived."


	8. Chapter 8

"Hello."

"Hi. Is Garrett there?"

"Yup. Just a second...GARRETT! PHONE!"

Garth pulled his phone away from his ear. He had been so stupid. He'd missed two calls from Sam because he hadn't taken into account the loss of cell signal inside the all metal storage locker.

"Hello?"

"Hey Garrett, Garth here."

"Hey Garth. What's up?"

"I need you to do me a favor. You got an hour or two?"

"Sure thing. What can I do?"

"As you know, there is an ongoing case a couple towns over that I sent Sam and Dean to check into."

"Uh huh."

"Well we were on a check-in schedule of every two hours and I missed two calls from Sam."

"Wait...Dean and Sam are missing?"

"I'm afraid that may be the case. You see I was in a metal storage locker and I lost my cell signal. Didn't realize it until I came out and my phone buzzed that I had two missed calls."

"Oh! So they aren't missing, you just missed calls."

"No, you see, those calls came in last night around nine and eleven pm. I haven't had any calls since then and I have been unable to reach them since."

"Oh. Okay, so you want me to go check on them?"

"Yeah if you could. They were staying at the Magpie Motel."

"Seriously? That place is a dump."

"Yeah, well the Winchester's don't have a big two story house to call home or paying jobs."

"Point taken. Okay, you know the room number?"

"They're in room 207."

"207. Got it."

"Be careful Garrett. If the Winchesters are truly missing, they would be the fourth and fifth hunters to go missing on this case. I have one more book to check into and then I think I'll have finally figured out what we're dealing with here. Call me once you get there and keep me posted. This one is serious, Garrett."

"Understood. Call when I get there, stay in contact, be carfeul. Anything else?"

"I'll let you know. Keep this to yourself for now. I don't need Krissy running in half cocked on a crazy rescue mission. That's exactly what Sam did and I haven't heard from him in almost twelve hours."

"Got it. Secret mission. I'll be on my toes. Call you in a bit."

Garrett hung up. He didn't know the Winchesters near as well as Krissy, but he knew OF the Winchesters. There were few, if any, hunters who hadn't heard of them. They were the elite in the field. They'd seen shit other hunters can only have nightmares about. If they were missing on a case, he really wondered what he could do about it. He got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Aiden!"

Aiden came jogging down the stairs. "S'up?"

"I gotta go out for a bit. Hold down the fort, okay?"

"Need a hand with anything?"

"Nah. I got this. Just an errand for Garth. It's no big. I'll have my cell on me if you need anything. I should be back in a few hours." Garrett went to the closet and grabbed his jacket and his pack with his basic hunting gear in it. He looked back at Aiden who was eying the pack. "I'll be fine." He assured him and headed out.

oooooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooooo

Dean woke up strapped to the bed, feet at the base and wrists at the sides. He could hear muffled shouts and screams coming through the door every now and then. It was the first time that Dean could remember hearing anyone else. He slowly became aware of a burning in his hands. He sat up as much as the cuffs would allow and looked at them. They were both bandaged. He had no memory of hurting himself but the pain was proof enough that there was definitely some sort of injury under the bandages.

This concerned him. Maybe there were big chunks of time missing. Maybe he had been here for months. Maybe he really has gone crazy. It wouldn't be unheard of for a hunter to lose his shit. Usually, though, when a hunter lost it, they ended up doing so on a job and getting themselves killed. If he was crazy, where was Sammy? Was he paying for this? How?

No. No! He refused to believe he was crazy! Well, not CRAZY crazy. He was certain only a small amount of time had gone by. Any crazy he felt was a result of the monsters messing with his head. _ Damn it, Dean! Keep it together! _

Just then the door opened a crack. Another shout rang out, louder now with the door open. Something about the shout ran a chill down his spine. It was more than just the fact that it was full of terror. "How's our newest guest doing?" Dean heard from outside his door.

"Having a bit of trouble adjusting the toxin levels, but we'll have him calmed down soon enough." Another voice answered.

"The noise is okay for now. In fact it's just what I need." Eric came through the door and Dean dropped back down to his bed with a sigh.

"You again? Guy can't get any rest around here without you bugging him every two seconds?"

"I see you're feeling well." Eric came over to the bed and stood over Dean looking down at him. Dean didn't like the position of power that gave him and started to sit up. Eric shoved him back down to the bed. "Please don't get up. I wouldn't want to bother your rest any more than I already have. How are the hands?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Mmmhmm. Psychologically speaking, you seem to be your usual self. That's good."

"Are you even a real doctor?" Dean closed his eyes and pretended to rest. If anything, he wouldn't have to look at Eric's ugly mug.

"Of course!"

"Really...huh."

"Look at it this way, Dean. Let's pretend you're a hunter of animals. Let's say that the only way you can eat is by hunting your own food. You following so far?"

"Hunter for food, got it. Is this going somewhere?"

"Now, let's say what you hunt is bear. Would studying farming or, say, the breeding habits of river salmon, improve your hunting skills?"

"Obviously no."

"No. Obviously. If you want to improve as a hunter of bear, you would study the bear. You would learn it's habits and abilities in order to take advantage of any weaknesses."

Eric paused, for effect, Dean supposed. He didn't grace him with any type of response. Eric sighed. "Now if your food source had to do with the brain and brain activity of a human, wouldn't it be wise to study that? To learn how to take advantage of what you learn and use it to prey on the human's weakness? For instance, we stumbled upon a hunter a few weeks ago and found out they are an amazing food source versus the average human. They respond to the toxin almost a full 80% faster. I think it's because you all actually know what goes bump in the night. You all know there are things worth fearing other than petty relationships or job loss, etc. From these few hunters that we've captured we have yet to go hungry and, I must say, the quality of our meals has improved immensely as well. That, I'm still trying to figure out. Why do hunter brains brew up such uniquely tasty cocktails?" Eric stopped talking. Lost in thought no doubt.

"So. Is this like the evil villain monologue? Cause if so? It could use some work." Dean snorted.

"You asked if I was really a doctor. Now you have your answer. But that's not why I'm here to visit."

"Oh goody. He has ulterior motives!" Dean rolled his eyes and turned his head to stare at the wall to his right.

"Open the door to our newest guest's room, would you, Eddie?" Dean glanced down his body toward the door. He hadn't realized it had been left open.

"Sure thing, boss!" Eddie said this with a sadistic grin thrown in Dean's direction. Eddie pulled out his keys and unlocked the door across the hall. Dean sat up as far as he could to see what Eric was up to. It wasn't the best angle. He could see the bare feet of someone strapped to a bed across the hall, their chest rising and falling rapidly as they struggled against their bindings.

"What game are you up to now?" Dean asked with a heavy sigh, as he lay back down.

"Wait for it, Dean. Wait for it."

oooooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooooooooo

Garrett pulled his little beat up Toyota Rav-4 into the lot of the Magpie Motel and around to the back. He pulled up outside 207 and cut the engine. First, all he did was sit there. He waited and watched. No movement at any curtains in any of the windows fronting the parking lot that he could see. There was only one other car in the lot, parked at the far end. As he studied the car, a balding man in a disheveled cheap suit came out of the end room and around to the passenger side of the car. He reached through the open window and pulled out a six pack of beer. He stumbled back to the room, slamming the door behind him. Garrett was pretty sure he wouldn't be a problem.

He grabbed his pack, dug out his lock pic set, and headed over to the door. Once he gained entry, he again just stopped and observed. Not a sound. He flicked on the lights. There were a couple of packs on the beds and a laptop on the table. He sat down at the laptop and booted it up. It came up to a map of the area. He called Garth.

"Yello?"

"Garth. It's me, Garrett. I've made it to the Winchester's room. No one's here. No car. No signs of forced entry and no signs of foul play either. Place is a ghost town. Sorry bro."

"That's what I was afraid of."

"Garth. What was the case? I deserve to know what's going on in my own backyard."

"Something is going on up at the Arkham Asylum."

"Arkham? You've got to be kidding me, right?"

"Wish I was. Anyway. With the Winchesters, this makes five missing hunters. At first we thought wraiths because of the similar M.O. but I think I've finally figured out what we're really up against. I'm going to e-mail you everything I have. Once you've gone over it all, call me back. In the meantime, collect all the belongings left behind by Sam and Dean, if you could. I'm hoping there is something there that you can use."

Garrett made a face. "Um. Okay. So is this an email I can share with the others?"

"I think at this point, we have no choice."

Garrett didn't like the sound of this. "Alright. Gather up their stuff and head back home. Call you once we've gone over the email. That it?"

"For now. Talk to you in a bit."

Garrett gathered up anything he could find throughout the motel room and headed back home. Looks like the team had a mission. And from the sounds of it, a dangerous one.


	9. Chapter 9

Garrett got back to the house and everyone was in the living room waiting for him. When he walked in they all started talking at once. "Whoa. WHOA! Everyone shut it! I'll tell you everything in a moment! Krissy, get your laptop with the webcam on it. Josephine, can you boot up the desktop and check my email for something incoming from Garth?"

Everybody jumped to it. They knew a case when they heard it. Krissy ran upstairs for her laptop, Josephine started hooking up to their email, and Aiden made a spot on the couch for Garrett to sit down. Krissy got back and got to work setting up the laptop on the coffee table in front of Garrett. Garrett dumped his pack on the floor, along with two other bags, and shoved them under the table out of the way. "You do have something here from Garth. Want me to print it out?" Josephine asked.

"Yeah if you'd be so kind." Garrett said with a grim smile. Krissy and Aiden exchanged looks behind Garrett's back.

"So. What's up?" Krissy asked.

"Okay. Garth asked me to go check on the Winchesters. He had lost contact with them sometime after eleven last night. They were looking into a case over in Brampton for him. They're gone. Their motel room showed no signs of foul play. Apparently, something is going on at the asylum out there and now, including Sam and Dean, we have five missing hunters."

"What?! How do we have five missing hunters just two towns over and we know nothing about it?!" Krissy jumped up out of her seat.

"Calm down. Obviously, Garth had others to work the case. You know how he is. He doesn't want to endanger the youth." Garrett chuckled and Krissy just rolled her eyes and sat back down.

"Wait a minute. If Dean and Sam are missing too, what can we do about it? I mean...they're Dean and Sam.." Aiden expressed what Garrett had thought all the way home.

"I don't know but I'm thinking we're all that's left."

He looked around at all of them. "Garth was going to send us some research he had dug up. Apparently everyone has gone into this case thinking wraiths and they have all disappeared. Sam and Garth had begun looking at other possibilities. Garth said he had found something. Josephine?"

Josephine had her nose buried in the papers she had printed off. "Yeah...ummm... something the Hebrews called the Na'amah. Some sort of demon that manipulates emotion. Alternately referred to in lore as the Nehemoth or Whisperers. They are supposedly responsible for frightening sounds in strange places. They excite the mind and cause strange desires. So they are related to demons, I guess? Sounds like they are very similar to wraiths. They have snake-like fangs they use to feed off the spinal cord fluid just below the base of the skull after first introducing some sort of toxin. The toxin causes the brain to start spitting out all sorts of chemicals. Um...I don't see here how the toxin is administered..."

"Let's get on skype with Garth and hash this stuff out." Garrett suggested. Krissy nodded her head and started up the skype program.

oooooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooooooooooo

Dean lay there waiting for whatever it was Eric had up his sleeve when suddenly an agonized shout rang out from the room across the hall. "DEAN!" Dean shot up in bed again. He looked intently across the hall and then back at Eric.

"What the hell have you done?"

Eric just smiled at him. Sam let out a scream that seemed equal parts terror and despair. "You son of a bitch! I swear to God if you hurt him I'll -"

"You'll do what? Dean. Don't kid yourself. Neither of you will ever be leaving here. And anyway, he's totally fine."

"He doesn't sound fine you douchewad!" Dean strained at the belts holding him down, pulling, twisting, and jerking at them. "Sam! Sammy! I'm here, bro!"

"Dean, he can't hear you. Like the other hunters, we're keeping him under a constant low dose of toxin. Once we get it regulated, he'll spend most his time unconscious."

Dean threw himself back on the bed with a growl, pulling at the straps on his wrists till the tendons in his neck were popping and his face turned red. "AGH! You shit head!"

"Calm down Dean. The only one you're hurting is yourself."

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

"I want you to know that your brother won't be coming to your rescue. I want you to know that if you try anything, anything at all, I'll take it out of your brother's hide. Do you understand me?" Dean gave him a look that could melt steel, sat up and looked across at his brother again. "Dean?"

"Yes."

"What was that?"

"Yes. YES! Okay?"

"Good." Eric started for the door and nodded at Eddie, who then closed up Sam's room.

"Tell me something, Eric." Dean said before Eric could leave. Eric turned at the door, eyebrows raised. "Why me? You keep everyone else drugged up. Why not me? Why do you keep up with the drugging and then let me come back to myself over and over? I don't get it."

Eric shrugged his shoulders and grinned. "What can I say? I like to play with my food." He turned and left, locking up behind himself.

"You son of bitch! I WILL END YOU! YOU HEAR ME, ERIC? YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED!" Dean lay back down in frustration.

He heard another terror filled scream from his brother and he renewed his efforts to get free from the restraints with vigor. He grunted, growled, and shouted in his efforts and his anger. He tugged and pulled until his body was coated in a sheen of sweat and he was panting in exhaustion. "Sammy..."

oooooooooooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooooooooooooooooooo

"Okay, Garth, you got me?"

"Yeah. I have you now. You get my email?"

"Yes. Going over it now. We notice there must be a page missing?"

"How do you mean?" They could see Garth shuffling through papers.

"It doesn't say in here how they deliver the toxin."

"Oh. No. Nothing's missing. Nowhere in any of the lore could I find how they do it. I'm guessing that's why so many hunters have succumbed to it. It could be by touch. In the air. Slipped into a drink or food. It could be slathered on doorknobs for all we know. That's what makes them so dangerous at the moment."

"Hmm." Garrett sat in thought. "I doubt it's by physical contact. Sam and Dean would have been watching for that."

"Good point."

"So," Aiden spoke up. He was holding one of the pages Josephine had printed up. "You kill them the same way you kill demons. I hate to break it to you guys, but you can't kill demons. You can only send them back to hell."

"Oo, on that note ! Garrett! Did you collect Sam and Dean's belongings back at the motel?"

"Yeah."

"Go through their bags and see if there are any knives."

Garrett pulled out the bags he had shoved under the table. He tossed one to Aiden and they dug through them. It was awkward pawing through the personal effects of someone who might be dead. They each came up with two knives. Garrett grabbed them all and held them up where Garth could see them. "Are these to your liking?"

Garth scrutinized the knives for a moment. "Sadly, no. Dean and Sam have a Kurdish blade that can kill a demon. I was hoping they would have had it on them."

"Shut the front door! Really?" Josephine piped up.

"Really. It must be in the trunk of their car up at the asylum. Here...I have a picture of it here somewhere." Garth got up from his seat and moved off camera. The kids could hear him riffling through papers. "Here." He came back into view with a photo of Sam holding a wicked looking knife with a jagged edge.

"Well. It mentions they can also be killed with sanctified silver to the heart." Aiden added.

"So. That means arrow heads, knives, anything silver?" Krissy asked.

"I would imagine so." Garth replied. "As long as it has been blessed by a priest."

"All this is useless if we can't get past the toxin." Garrett mumbled.

"Hey Garth...what's this about the innocent and pure?" Josephine asked. "It says here that the toxin is useless against something in latin that you have translated as the pure and innocent."

"I'm not sure about that one. That bit was only mentioned in one of the six sources I could find. Possibly it refers to a virgin of some sort? To be honest, I had forgotten about it as it was only mentioned the one time."

"So you wanting us to go in or what?" Garrett asked.

"No! It's obviously not safe. Five full time hunters have already gone missing. No, just go over my notes and see if you find anything that I may have missed."

"Sure." Garrett said and signed off.

"We're not really going to leave this are we?" Krissy asked incredulously.

"Just split up the notes, Josephine. Let's see what we have." Garrett gave a pointed look to Krissy.

Krissy heaved a heavy sigh, grabbed a page out of Josephine's hand, and dropped heavily into the armchair. The rest all split up the notes and started reading.

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"Hey Winchester. Wake up." Kyle smacked Dean in the face. "Time to get cleaned up. You're stinking up the place. Nobody likes to eat stinky food."

He must have fallen asleep in his struggles. Kyle was right. He stunk. "I don't recall seeing a shower around here."

"You let me worry about that."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Dean mumbled under his breath.

Kyle leaned down and started unbuckling the strap at Dean's left wrist. He stopped and eyed Dean for a moment. "Remember. Try anything and Jolly Green across the hall pays for it."

"I got it. I got it."

Kyle finished unbuckling his wrist and stood up. "You can handle the rest. Once you're done, grab those clean scrubs, and knock on the door." He pointed at a pair of scrub pants laying folded in the middle of the floor where he had probably tossed them. He left the room with a chuckle Dean didn't like the sound of.

Dean worked himself out of the rest of the straps and went straight for the toilet. Once he was done, he begrudgingly grabbed the clean scrubs and knocked on the door. All he could picture was every horrid shower scene from every prison and war-time prison camp movie he had ever seen. He wasn't looking forward to this, no matter how bad he smelled.

Kyle opened the door and grabbed Dean by the arm. "Remember, no funny business." Dean sighed and rolled his eyes. He was going to do his best not to do anything that would bring the hurt down on Sammy. At least, it seemed, Sam had quieted down.

Kyle led him down the hall, past the kitchen, to a small cinder block room. He didn't see any shower heads. He didn't see a tub. Just a bottle of dish soap on the floor by the far wall. He turned to share his observation with Kyle and found that Kyle was already more than aware of the situation. Standing just inside the now closed door, Kyle held the end of a hose, swinging it back and forth.

"If you want your clean scrubs to remain dry, I suggest you hang them on the hook here by the door." He pointed to a small metal hook to the side of the door. Dean sighed.

He just knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant experience. He went over and hung the pants on the hook, trying very hard to keep the smart ass comments to himself. Antagonize Kyle at all and this could go from unpleasant to horrific in a heartbeat.

"Over there and lose the pants." Kyle motioned to the bottle of soap with his hose.

Dean walked over to the other side of the small room, near the soap. "How about I keep the pants and I just wash my hair."

"How about you do as you were told, or I shove this hose up your ass. You are food to me. Don't flatter yourself."

Dean sighed and dropped trow. The water was cold and stung like being sand blasted. Kyle hosed him down and then gave him time to soap up. "Mmm. Lemony fresh and gentle on your hands!" Dean couldn't help himself sometimes. The water hit him square in the face.

Once done, Kyle threw the clean scrubs at him. "Not sure why we tried so hard to keep these dry." Dean said sarcastically. After catching them against his wet body and putting them on his wet body, they were pretty much soaked through. He was shivering pretty hard on the way back to his room, where he was shoved unceremoniously to the floor and the door slammed behind him.

There was a tray of food waiting on the small desk. Soup and bread. Actually kind of nice, considering. He ate quickly and then paced and jogged around the room to keep warm.


	10. Chapter 10

Garrett and the rest had been pouring over Garth's research for almost two hours. They had passed sheets back and forth to the point where they had all read everything. Krissy jumped up and got online at one point and now sat staring through the computer, into space.

"Guys?" She slowly turned around to the rest. "What if we're over thinking this?"

"How do you mean?" Aiden asked.

"This one little bit of Latin, here, that Garth has translated as innocent and pure. We all went with his interpretation of a virgin. What if immunity to the toxin is something simpler."

"What are you getting at?" Garrett stood up and stretched.

"Well, I've been poking around in some translation websites and the same words that he has translated as pure and innocent can also be translated as young, youth, or untarnished. What if all it means is that the toxin doesn't affect kids? What if only adults are affected?"

"Hmm. Interesting thought." Josephine now sat up a little straighter. "If the toxin affects the brain and it's functions, it could have something to do with growth and development. It may not work until the brain is fully developed."

"Kids go through puberty at different rates and even after the outward signs of puberty are apparent, the brain and internal systems continue to develop." Aiden said. Everyone gaped at him. "What? I don't spend ALL my time playing video games!"

"So, let me get this straight. You're suggesting we charge in there on the hunch that we'll be safe because we're younger? What about me? I'm older than all of you." Garrett wondered.

"Yeah, well you'd be taking a risk and so might Josephine, but I bet Aiden and I would be fine." Krissy had gotten up and was pacing now, excited at the prospect of action. "Josephine could use her small crossbow. You still have those silver tipped bolts, right?"

"Five of them, I think."

Garrett could see it on all their faces. The eagerness to do and to save was plain. "Guys...I don't know..."

"Garrett, if this were anyone else, I'd hesitate too. But we're talking Dean...and Sam. They saved us and we at least owe them the attempt. ... They saved me." Krissy pleaded with a heartfelt passion Garrett couldn't ignore. He nodded and Krissy practically launched herself at him in a huge hug. "Thank you."

"This doesn't mean we go in stupid! We need a plan." Garrett advised and so they sat down around the laptop, looking at a floor plan of the asylum, and strategized.

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Dean was doing some push ups when he heard his door open. "Let's go, Winchester."

"Where? Why? You finally gonna give me the grand tour? Maybe go visit some of my fellow inmates?"

"You're hilarious."

"I like to think so."

"Eric is feeling peckish. Let's go."

"Ahh. So it's time for fun and games. I get it." Dean got up and walked over to the door. "Why can't he just come in here, drug me into a screaming, quivering mass of nerves and then bite me. You know like everyone else?"

"You heard him earlier, he likes to play with his food."

Dean kept his distance. He wasn't one to go willingly. "Don't think I've had the pleasure. You are?"

"Harry. I brought your brother in." He said it with a smug look of superiority that Dean immediately wiped off his face with a quick right hook. "Ah, you little fucker!"

"Consider that a down payment, you bastard. You ever touch my brother again and I'll pay in full." Dean threatened and then, in a lighter tone, "So where to? Don't want to keep Eric waiting." Dean felt optimistic, after getting such an easy drop on Harry, that he may be able to make good his escape.

Harry grabbed Dean by a handful of hair and yanked him roughly out into the hall. He supposed he had that coming, but as long as it was him and not Sammy they beat on, it was fine. "This way, you punk." Harry dragged him down the hall by his head. Dean had a hard time walking bent awkwardly to the side as he was. Dean could tell Harry was drugging him. He had started getting used to the signs. His head started feeling light, his heart rate was starting to speed up, and he was beginning to pant. All classic physical fear responses.

Harry kicked open a door that led to a set of stairs. He led Dean to the set going down and Dean skidded to a halt. "Come on, Dean. What's the matter?" Harry said it very sarcastically.

"It's...uh...it's pretty dark down there."

"There's a light switch where we're headed. Why? You afraid of the dark?"

"No. I'm afraid of what's IN the dark."

"Heh. As you should. Let's go, ya baby." He gave Dean's hair a good yank and almost made Dean fall down the stairs. Dean stumbled down the stairs in Harry's wake. Trying desperately to get away from him. Harry finally had to let go of Dean's hair as it was too short to hold onto with all of Dean's resistance. He grabbed him by the wrist, instead, squeezing hard at the joint.

By the time they went through the doorway at the bottom of the steps Dean's heart was going a mile a minute and he was gasping. "You freaks ever hear of flash lights? I can't see an inch in front of my face!"

"We're almost there, you cry baby. Relax." Harry dragged a struggling Dean down the hall.

"Shit man! Stop! You don't know what's down here! Anything could be down here in the dark!" Dean grunted with the effort of trying to get out of Harry's grip.

"We're here. Stand here for a moment while I get the lights." Dean was brought into a room. He knew that only because his arm hit the door frame on the way in. Dean stood, literally shivering, holding his arms across his chest. He heard the door shut and the click of the light switch. "Huh. Lights don't seem to be working."

"Come on, man. Where's Eric? Tell him he's had his fun. I'm scared shitless. Tell him to come bite me, already, and get this over with!"

Silence.

"Harry?"

Silence.

Dean turned in a slow circle. He couldn't see jack squat. He couldn't hear anything over his heavy breathing. "Harry? This isn't funny, man!"

_"Dean"_ It was just a whisper off to his right. Dean's head whipped around, trying in vain to see anything in the dark.

_"Hey Dean"_ Another whisper, to his left this time. Dean's head, again, whipped around in the direction the whisper had come from.

Out of nowhere, a punch landed on his lower back. Dean gasped and arched away, spinning to look behind him. Such a natural move was useless in the dark. He held his hands out in front of him and started backing up, hoping to back into a wall eventually. Someone grabbed his wrists and flung him through the air. He expected to hit a wall, but instead, was caught by another pair of hands. These ones pulled his hands behind his back. Dean struggled, but before he could make any progress with the one holding him, someone else punched him in the face. His head whipped to the side. It was so much harder to take a punch when you couldn't see it coming. No sooner had his head recovered from the punch as another landed in his gut. It knocked the wind out of him and he doubled over. The hands holding him let go and he fell to the floor, gasping for air.

He tasted blood in his mouth and heard chuckling coming from all around him. He decided to go on the offensive as best as he could. He rolled into a ball, of sorts, and rolled across the floor. He hit something and felt someone fall down on top of him. He quickly crawled on top of them and started blindly punching.

"Umph, you fucker." Dean was shoved up and off and he flew backwards, landing hard on his back.

"Hehe. I see we've triggered the fight of the fight or flight response, tonight."

"Eric." Dean gasped, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor. "What the fuck, man? What are you playing at here? Just do your thing and end this." Dean pleaded into the dark.

"Dean. Tsk tsk. When having someone for dinner, don't you know the preparation is just as important as the presentation?"

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The team had found the same side road Sam had used and, with some searching, even found Sam's entry point in the fence. As planned, Krissy and Josephine held back and Garrett and Aiden made their way to the Impala. Aiden kept watch as Garrett hunched down and got to work on the trunk with his lock pic set. _"Aiden, on your nine."_ Aiden heard over his earbud. Thanks to Garrett's uncle having been ex-military, they had some pretty cool gadgets.

He nodded his head and turned. A man was coming toward them from the building. Aiden smacked Garrett's shoulder. "Company." Just as he said that, he heard the click of the trunk and it popped up about an inch.

"What are you kids doing out here?" He was wearing scrubs and had an ID badge and keys hanging from his belt.

Garrett turned to him. "Just retrieving some belongings from our uncle's car."

"Really?" He stood over them and Aiden noticed the name Harry on the badge.

"Listen, Harry. Can I call you Harry? Let us grab our stuff and we'll be out of your hair before you know it."

Harry grabbed Aiden's jacket, leaned down and said "No. You can't call me Harry." He shoved Aiden to the side and stepped up to Garrett. "How did you get in here?"

Garrett swayed and then fell right to his butt as if he suddenly decided now would be a great time to sit down. "Sorry. God, I'm so sorry! This was really stupid! Please don't hurt me!" Garrett pleaded as he started to cry. Aiden looked at Garrett like he'd just grown a second head. _"What's going on?"_ Aiden shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"Hey!" Aiden shoved Harry. "What did you do to my brother?! Did you drug him? What did you do?"

Harry turned to Aiden perplexed. "Yeah, I did. Now...why aren't you down too?"

_"Drop now!" _ Aiden dropped to the ground and then heard Harry grunt. He looked up and saw a black blotch start to spread across his shirt where a cross bow bolt had entered his chest. More black oozed out of his mouth and eyes as he dropped to the ground.

Aiden turned to Garrett as Krissy and Josephine made their way over to them. "Garrett? Garrett are you okay?"

Garrett swayed again and hit his head against the bumper of the car. "So dizzy."

Krissy knelt down and looked at him. "I think he's too old." They all just looked at each other. "You are obviously safe, though!" She added with a smile to Aiden.

"Great, but what do we do about him?"

"No problem. Bring him here." Josephine had been busy picking the lock on the car. She stood there holding open the back door. They helped Garrett up and led him to the car. They pushed him in and told him to lay down. "We'll be back. Sit tight." They shut the door and went back to the trunk. They opened it up and Krissy reached down and pulled up the weapons box lid.

"Whoa! That's some sweet shit right there!" Aiden praised.

"I know right?" Krissy leaned in with a flashlight and poked around a bit until she came up holding a knife. "This look right?" Aiden and Josephine both gave it a good look and nodded their heads. "Okay. Aiden, since you are obviously immune to the toxin, you take the demon killing blade. Josephine, you keep going with the crossbow. I'll stick with my gun. Now, according to all the notes Garrett and Garth gathered, the asylum is on a skeleton staff at night. My guess is it's all monsters. Basically, if it comes at you, take it out." The other two nodded. Krissy bent down and grabbed the badge and keys from Harry's belt. "Let's go."


	11. Chapter 11

"Go to hell, Eric." Dean said to the darkness around him.

"Oh, eventually. Not right now, though. I'm having too much fun with all you hunters."

He was lifted from the floor by a hand in his hair and punched several times in the stomach. Dean was hacking and coughing. Gasping for air. "You boys having fun too?" No answer. Dean thought for sure, at this point, they would be trash talking him or something. "Guys?"

Silence.

Dean's heart started racing like a rabbit again. He started taking wild swings into the air around him, hoping to land a punch. In his toxin addled brain, it never once occurred to him that they seemed to be able to see him just fine. He was wandering and spinning aimlessly around the room. "Say something! I know you're in here!" He had spun himself dizzy and stumbled over his own feet, luckily landing against a wall. He leaned back against it, trying to catch his breath. He wasn't sure if there were tears running down his face or if it was all just sweat.

He bent over and put his hands on his knees. He needed to slow his breathing down or he was going to pass out. Who knows? Maybe that's what Eric was hoping for. He stood up again. "End this, you shit heads!" That earned him a response. Several actually. His head felt like a punching bag. His lip split and his left eye was rapidly swelling shut. Not that that mattered since he couldn't see anything anyway.

"Yeah. That's it. Big bad monsters have to fight me in the dark because they know I would whip their asses if I could see them!" Spraying blood as he talked. He received an uppercut to the chin that knocked his head back, bouncing it off the wall. He fell to the floor and wobbled there, on his hands and knees.

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Using the badge, Krissy let them into the building. They stood there for a moment just listening. It was deathly quiet. For some reason, they assumed an insane asylum would be louder. They started down the hall. The first door they came to was the kitchen area. The only lights on in there were security lighting. They went in anyway and covered the large area, making sure no one would becoming out behind them.

When they came out, there was a woman coming down the hall toward them. She was walking with purpose but no real threat as of yet, so they held their ground. She stopped about eight or so feet away. "Who are you? What are you doing in here?"

They just looked at each other and then back at her. Krissy went for the straight up approach. "We're here to kick some monster ass and save our friends. What are you doing here?"

The woman considered Krissy's answer. She opened her mouth and hissed at them. As she did so, two large, snake-like fangs dropped down from the roof of her mouth, and something sprayed out of her mouth and all over Aiden's face, who had taken point.

"Eww. Eww. That's just nasty, man!" He started wiping the yellowish, sticky fluid off his face with the sleeve of his jacket.

The woman looked completely surprised and shocked that whatever she had done, had had no effect. Krissy, in the meantime, raised her gun and blew the thing away. Like Harry in the loading dock, black fluid oozed from her eyes and mouth.

"Oh damn! This stuff reeks! I just bought this jacket last week, too." Aiden took his jacket off and tossed it back down the hall the way they had come.

"Stop your whining. Let's go."

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"Enough. I think the dish is perfect and ready to be served." Eric said. Just then there was the sound of a gun shot. "Go." Eric commanded.

Dean heard the sound of rushed footsteps and the door opening and shutting. "HAHA! I bet that wasn't on tonight's menu!" Dean said it with full bravado and while it sounded great in his head, it came out in a slurred dribble of words. He spit another mouthful of blood to the floor below him.

Even though he just wanted this all to be over, because he honestly didn't know how much more terror his heart could take, he suddenly didn't want Eric to get his meal. So when he felt Eric's hand suddenly come to a rest on his back, he bucked up and swung out, hitting Eric along side his head. He tried to scramble away across the floor, but he was a mess and didn't get far before he felt Eric wrap a hand around his ankle. He started to drag him back and Dean kicked out with his other foot.

"Let go, you bitch!" For all the tough talk, though, Dean just didn't have any fight left in him. He collapsed to the floor as Eric dragged him all the way back.

"This has been highly entertaining, Dean. We really must do this again some time." Eric said it like they had gotten together for a game of poker and beers.

"Screw you, asshat." Dean mumbled. Dean was starting to wheeze and he began to wonder if he might have broken a rib.

Eric lifted Dean into a kneeling position, leaning his weight against his chest and resting Dean's head on his shoulder. Dean heard the barely audible snick as Eric's fangs popped out and grunted as they sank into his neck, not having even the energy to scream out at the searing pain they caused.

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Krissy, Aiden and Josephine had gone maybe twenty feet down the hall when a door ahead and to the left came crashing open. Two huge guys came barreling out and stopped when they saw the kids. They each had bloodied knuckles and the one had a spray of blood across the front of his scrub top. "I'm guessing bad guys, if the blood is any indication." Josephine whispered.

Krissy was still holding the gun out and when they spotted it in her hand and the dead woman behind them, they came rushing toward them. Josephine got a shot off but the bolt missed the heart and lodged itself into the one guy's upper arm. He bellowed in pain but kept coming. Krissy took a shot but the bullet just missed and pinged off the doorway they had just come through.

And just like that they were on them. The one grabbed Aiden by the throat and lifted him off the floor, slamming him against the wall. He held onto the demon blade, though, and when he raised it up, the man laughed. "What do you think you're gonna do with that, boy? It's not even silver."

"This." Aiden grunted with the full confidence that they not only had the right knife, but that it would actually do what Garth said it would. He jammed it between the man's ribs and into his gut, well below his heart. It didn't matter though. He dropped Aiden and stumbled back a step. He flashed a couple times. Aiden didn't know how else to explain it. He could see the man glow from the inside out and he caught a glimpse of the shape of his skull. The man then dropped dead at his feet. Aiden got down and worked on removing the knife from the guy's chest.

The other man, in the meantime, grabbed Krissy's wrist and twisted it around until she dropped the gun. Josephine put another bolt into him. He shoved the now weaponless Krissy out of the way and went for Josephine. Aiden ran up behind him and ran the knife home. The three looked at each other, visually making sure the others were okay. Krissy retrieved the gun and they silently agreed that the obvious route would be through the door the two men had come out of.

They went through the door and onto a stairwell landing. Before they could wonder which way to go, they heard the word 'asshat' echo up from downstairs. They pulled out flashlights and ran.

At the bottom they swung their lights around. "This way." Aiden whispered, pointing out scuff marks and foot prints in the dust on the floor. They followed the trail down the hall to a door. They readied their weapons, Josephine covering back down the hall the way they had come. "On three." Aiden mouthed. They nodded. Holding his hand out, he counted to three on his fingers. On three, Krissy pushed the door open as quickly as she could and she and Aiden swung in, weapons at the ready.

They were just in time to see Eric release his fangs from Dean's neck, dump Dean's lifeless body to the floor, and stand up. "Step away from him, now!" Krissy demanded. She was trying hard to be tough and not cry. They were too late.

He eyed them warily. "So. It's true then. The toxin doesn't work on the young." He looked at their weapons with interest. "That's why it's always good to have a back up plan." Aiden and Krissy exchanged a quick 'what-the-hell' look.

Eric reached into his pants pocket and shot Aiden in the leg. He apparently had a small caliber gun in there and shot it through his pants in their general direction. In the close quarters it wasn't hard to hit something. Aiden went down with a gasp, clutching his thigh. Before Krissy could decide how to react, Eric barreled past her and into the hall. In his exit he knocked Krissy into the wall and Josephine to the floor.

He didn't put much stock in kids as adversaries, though, and thought he was in the clear. Shooting from the floor was no problem, though. Josephine's bolt caught him through the neck. He grabbed at his neck, stumbled and fell. In that time, Krissy came out and ran down the hall. She stood over him and fired point blank through his back. Three shots, just to make sure and, maybe, some personal satisfaction as well.

When she got back to the others, Josephine was applying pressure to Aiden's leg. Krissy rushed over to Dean and checked for a pulse, hoping for a miracle. "Oh thank God." She whispered.

"Someone's coming." Josephine whispered. Krissy raised her head and could hear the footsteps running down the hall. She raised her gun, ready.

Garrett came skidding around the corner. "Thank God you guys are... oh no. Is he...?" Garrett looked at Dean laying on the floor in the beam of a stray flash light.

"No. I thought..." Krissy looked down at Dean for a moment. "Anyway. I'm glad you're up and running again because we're going to need a hand."

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The Okami kept skittering around on the ceiling trying to get him. He finally crawled under the bed in an effort to get some cover. When something touched his shoulder he jumped and turned around to see Sam standing over him.

"You woke up this time." He said, surprised.

"This time?" Dean groaned. His whole body ached and his head felt like it had been bashed in with a baseball bat...several times.

"Yeah. You've been out for two and a half days and been having nightmares off and on the whole time. It's been pretty rough."

"Is this real?"

Sam was caught off guard by the strange question. "What do you mean?"

"You're really here? I'm really here?"

"Yeah, Dean." Sam frowned with concern.

"Sammy, they messed with my head so much in that place, I feel like I don't know which way is up anymore." Dean struggled up into a seated position with Sam's help.

Sam came over and sat on the bed next to Dean. He looked at him for a moment. Looked him in the eye. He could see the barely suppressed fear and confusion hiding there. "This is real, Dean. I can't even begin to guess what they did to you in there, but this is real." He took Dean's hand and held it against his chest, over his heart. "I'm real." He let Dean pull his hand away. "Listen. Garrett, and the gang staged a pretty impressive rescue mission. They ganked the monsters and freed the hunters. You and I included. The bite wound on your neck got infected pretty bad, but it's looking better today."

Dean reached up and felt a bandage on the back of his neck. "It's weird, Sammy. I have all these injuries and can't remember how I got them."

"I imagine the Nehemoth were responsible, probably while you were under the influence of the toxin, but you're safe now." Sam wondered how long it would take for Dean to accept reality. "We're at Krissy's place."

"And Baby?"

Sam smiled and rolled his eyes. "Your car is fine and parked outside." Sam considered his brother again. "Tell you what. Let me get you something to eat and a few dozen ibuprofen. I bet you're starving." Sam stood up and headed for the door. He looked back and saw Dean looking curiously at the wounds on his hands, sighed and headed downstairs.

"Oh, hey man! Didn't know you were up! How you feeling?" Aiden hobbled in on a pair of crutches.

Dean looked up and frowned. "What'd I miss?"

"What these?" Aiden held up one of his crutches. "I got shot rescuing your sorry ass." He hobbled into the room and to the closet. "Just came in to get a bag from the closet."

With the door open, Dean could hear voices coming up from downstairs.

"Thanks again, guys."

"No problem, Randall. We would like to think you'd do the same for us."

"Oh sure thing. Well, I better hit the road."

"Feel free to swing by if you're ever in the area again. We always have a spare bedroom."

"Will do."

The front door opened and shut and Aiden headed out. "I'll let the others know you're awake." He paused for a moment. "I um...you..." Aiden glanced at the floor and struggled to find the words he wanted to say. "You're one tough motherfucker, Dean Winchester, and it's an honor to be considered a friend." He got a pillow in the face. "What?"

"Stop with the mushy crap and get your scrawny ass outta here."

Aiden smiled. "Yes sir. And...well... I was once told you never leave a Winchester hanging..." He hobbled away and Dean shook his head. Kids these days.

There was a light knock on the door a while later and Krissy came in holding a plate with a couple grilled cheese sandwiches on it. Dean made a face. "What? You don't like grilled cheese? For some reason I thought you'd eat anything."

Dean smirked and chuckled. "No. No, grilled cheese is fine. Bring it, I'm starving."

She sat on the edge of the bed and handed him the plate. "Sam will be up in a minute with a drink and some drugs."

"Please tell me there's more than just these two?"

She grinned and let out a sigh of relief she didn't realize she was holding. "Yeah. All you can eat."


End file.
